Holiday Hangover 2014 - Greece
Awareness campaign is unfolding in Greece (20-27 June)
As thousands of Brits have already started arriving in Greece for their summer holidays Greek Consular Network is unfolding its awareness campaign for young British tourists, Holiday Hangover.
Andrew Staunton, the British Deputy Head of Mission (DHM) to Greece was on Zakynthos on 19 and 20 June where he launched the 2014 in-resort awareness campaign for young tourists along with Zakynthos Vice Mayor of Tourism Panayotis Koliris.
The British Ambassador, John Kittmer, who presented the campaign to the Minister for Tourism Olga Kefalogianni in a meeting last week, is visiting the island of Kos where he will present the campaign to local authorities and stakeholders while the campaign will be also launched in Crete (Malia) and Corfu (Kavos) over the next few days.
Through a range of materials including posters, wristbands, lanyards and beer mats, our aim is to remind young British travellers to take care while on holiday; to have fun but be aware of the consequences of their actions. The Holiday Hangover campaign material carries contact details for the British Consulates and the international emergency number 112 (999 from a UK mobile) to have handy in case they find themselves in difficulty or trouble.
DHM Andrew Staunton said:
Holiday Hangover campaign is only one part of the ongoing close cooperation between the Embassy and Consulates and stakeholders in Greece, which stretches well beyond the busy summer period with meetings, workshops and joint planning throughout the year.
With Greece receiving close to 2 million British visitors annually, the British Consular Network in Greece is committed to taking steps to work with local authorities, local communities and stakeholders to ensure that as many British visitors enjoy safe and problem-free holidays. The co-operation that the UK receives in these efforts from the local authorities and businesses is essential in making sure that the messages reach as many young British tourists as possible. Since 2012 the British Embassy has run the ‘Holiday Hangover’ with the recurring message that what you do on holiday has consequences.
This year the campaign goes digital #holidayhangover.
Notes to editors
- The main bulk of the consular workload is in the peak tourism months between May and September. The British consular network in Greece is extensive. There are two vice consuls in the Ionian Islands, one in the Dodecanese, one in Crete and one in Athens. There are British Honorary consuls in Thessaloniki, Mytilene and Patras.
- Since 2012 the British Embassy has run the ‘Holiday Hangover’ with the recurring message that what you do on holiday has consequences. Mindful of our audience, our materials deliver serious messages without lecturing or passing moral judgements. In particular, with this campaign the aims is to:
- reducing behaviour that may lead to arrests (disrespect of local laws and customs, drug taking, excessive alcohol consumption) or to hospitalisations, with the subsequent high medical bills, and deaths);
- reduce the number of victims of crime (assault, theft);
- provide information on what we can do when something goes wrong and contact details and emergency numbers, readily available.
- The in-resort campaign is part of wider communications and engagement with stakeholders, on both national and local level, in Greece and the UK, on consular services. It is also an opportunity to reiterate the British Embassy and the British Consular Network’s commitment to be a responsible and proactive partner in Greece and to demonstrate to audiences in the UK, Ministers, MPs, media and consular customers, the proactive work undertaken throughout the year to ensure that younger British tourists enjoy trouble free holidays in Greece.