The idyllic beaches of the Greek islands have long been a draw for European holidaymakers, but now a new wave of US tourists is waking up to their charms, driven by stars like Madonna, Katy Perry and Justin Bieber.
In a study for online travel giant Expedia, 13 percent of American travellers said they had booked a trip after seeing a destination on screen. Cited by the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, bookings to Greece increased by 18 percent in the weeks following the film’s international release in mid-July, according to EasyJet Holidays. singer Bieber took his family to the Peloponnese While Madonna partied in Corfu. Perry and her partner, Canada’s former prime minister Justin Trudeau, sampled the delights of Mykonos. Key parts of Nolan’s film, recounting the travails of Damon’s Odysseus as he seeks to return home from the Trojan war to his wife Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway, were shot in the Peloponnese region of Greece.
“Celebrities are voting for the Greek summer!” public broadcaster ERT said on Friday, devoting a report to these stars from across the Atlantic. The newspaper To Vima hailed this “new wave” which “helps raise the country’s international profile”. It cited British singer and actress Rita Ora, who shared her holidays with “her millions of followers” on social media. Paris Tsartas, professor of tourism development at Harokopio University in Athens, told AFP the deluge of celebrity endorsements gave Greece a powerful boost as a summer destination particularly with the lucrative American market. Some of the new enthusiasm is driven by the phenomenon of “set-jetting” people travelling to a destination after seeing it in a movie or TV series.
