The story · 2009–2013
One idea in Dubai became a campaign made by hundreds of people.
UP Greek Tourism was a volunteer campaign created during the Greek financial crisis. Its purpose was simple: remind the world that Greece was still beautiful, safe, and ready to welcome visitors.
What
A citizen-led campaign for Greek tourism.
Why
Tourism could bring income and confidence during the crisis.
How
Crowdfunding, donated work, social media, and outdoor screens.
Where
New York, Washington, and London.
Why it began
The headlines showed a country in crisis. Yorgos saw tourism as a way forward.
Greece’s debt crisis was dominating international news. Images of austerity, demonstrations, and political uncertainty were shaping how the country was seen abroad—and were hurting bookings. In June 2012, the BBC reported a 15.1 percent fall in tourism receipts and a sharp drop in arrivals from Germany.
Yorgos Kleivokiotis was living in Dubai. He believed tourism—what he called Greece’s “heavy industry”—was one practical route out of the crisis. Visitors brought money directly into hotels, restaurants, ferries, shops, and local communities. Greece did not only need sympathy; it needed people to come.
He reached out to two friends, Onic Palandjian and Stathis Haikalis. Together they began asking what ordinary citizens could do without waiting for a government campaign.
While our government is trying to deal with the economic crisis, we, as individuals, should not wait.
How an idea became a campaign
A Facebook invitation became a volunteer network, then a crowdfunded billboard.
01
Invite
The early “Save Greece: Travel to Greece this Summer” Facebook event reached roughly 175,000 people. Contemporary accounts put the total between 170,000 and 180,000; either way, it proved that a positive message could travel.
02
Gather
Yorgos, Onic, and Stathis brought together volunteers across countries—people with day jobs contributing strategy, design, film, technology, media, and local contacts.
03
Fund
The team used Loudsauce to ask the public for $15,000. The money would pay for media space; it would not pass through the volunteers.
04
Amplify
A billboard was a physical event people could photograph and share. The outdoor placement created news, and the news carried the message much further.
Twenty days
333 people put Greece in Times Square.
The New York fund opened on February 12, 2012. Twenty days later, it closed above its target: $20,352 from 333 contributors in Greece and around the world. A Greek American billboard owner made a Times Square screen affordable by offering it at a steep discount.
On March 23, the campaign appeared at 1560 Broadway, between 46th and 47th Streets. It ran for thirty days. The message was short enough to cross a crowded square: “Join Us in Greece.”
“We raised $20,352 from 333 people. Thank you!”
Who made it possible
The campaign was designed to look like the people behind it.
Charis Tsevis created the campaign’s visual identity pro bono. His mosaics—Santorini, the Parthenon, a windsurfer, a Cycladic café, a joyful girl, and the word Greece—were assembled from hundreds of photographs. Many came from amateur Greek photographers and campaign supporters.
Despo Potamou and Tsevis animated the work. Ted Reglis provided music. Kimon Tsakiris worked on film; Dimitris Maniatis and Dimitris Zotos on the website. Art Dimopoulos helped take the campaign to Washington, Katerina Spetsiou led London, and AHEPA and the American Hellenic Institute supported the Washington placement. Many more volunteers handled communications, translation, fundraising, press, production, and local logistics.
Our team is made of people with day jobs, working on this project in their spare time.
The original site published the wider volunteer list. Read the archived team page ↗
March 23 – April 22, 2012
New York
The crowdfunded beginning: a digital screen in Times Square for thirty days.
May 3 – June 3, 2012
Washington
A Santorini dome, wallscapes, a Metro placement, and bus shelters on 7th Street.
January 31 / February 1 – February 14, 2013
London
About 200 citizens raised £12,000 for two weeks in Piccadilly Circus. Kathimerini reported a January 31 opening; the campaign page had planned February 1.
What happened next
The placements ended. The story kept travelling.
Newspapers, television, radio, and social media carried the campaign beyond the people who could see the screens in person. CNN reported on New York in April 2012. In February 2013, Christiane Amanpour showed the London campaign and described it as “a grassroots effort to revive Greece’s economic engine, which is tourism.”
UP Greek Tourism did not claim to solve the crisis. It showed something smaller and more repeatable: citizens could offer time, craft, contacts, photographs, or a contribution, and together make a country-sized message visible.
This is a grassroots campaign, for the Greek people, by the Greek people.
