Three months after the German invasion of Greece in 1941, a book was published in London by the British film critic, travel writer, and philhellene Dilys Powell. “Remember Greece” began in Ikaria, the beautiful island that was also a place of exile for dissidents from the Metaxas dictatorship. Ikaria featured in neither Baedeker nor the Guide Bleu, and Powell wanted her readers to know about it and the ancient history, geography and wonders of Greece. Her purpose was to remind them of the heroism and sacrifices of the Greeks
Powell’s book is the first artifact in our new digital exhibition, “Imagining Greece,” which was recently launched at the American College of Greece with the minister of tourism, Olga Kefalogianni. It is a freely accessible resource which has digitized hundreds of historical sources to trace the history of Greek tourism from 1945 to 1989. The team of academics that created it recognized the enormous significance of post-war tourism to Greece, and how it remained hidden in the archives. We wanted to breathe life into this history and present it online. “Imagining Greece” was also designed to ask how Greece became a global tourist destination. It was clear to us that tourism didn’t just happen. To bring millions of visitors to the nation, it had to be reimagined.
Our exhibition explains how it was done.
Powell’s Ikaria is part of this story. Annually, its population of some 4,280 rises to 30,000 during the tourist season. In 2024, those visitors were among the 36 million who came to Greece, earned the nation over 21 billion euros, and gave work to 25% of its people. These tourists also bring problems. Overtourism is a now a major issue as visitor numbers have not only recovered after the pandemic but grown. The Greek tourism sector has to manage unprecedented business while keeping its workers happy so that it can continue to contribute between 25% and 30% of the country’s GDP. It must also protect Greece’s heritage, people and future. Kefalogianni is aware of these pressures. As she inaugurated “Imagining Greece,” she spoke of diversifying the Greek brand to shape the future of tourism and hold Greece’s place in the global tourism market. She is also aware of the question of sustainability.
Our exhibition informs the decisions she will have to take. It explains how the brand of Greece evolved after 1945 and became a profitable but complex mix rather than a single marketing campaign. Its elements were enduring – heritage, culture, gastronomy, sun-bleached vistas, and the deep blue of the Aegean along a paradise coastline – but they were in the control of many stakeholders who selected aspects of them to target different audiences and bring the world to Greece. That happened in diverse ways, over time, partly in the power of the state through the ministry and the Greek National Tourism Organization, but partly in the control of commercial organizations and thousands of entrepreneurial Greeks in towns, villages and beach resorts. “Imagining Greece” recreates a phenomenal story which was about the expansion of tourism. The national brand that it reveals remains relevant as Greece now considers how to retain its market share while meeting the challenge of sustainability that is the product of its success.
Eirini Karamouzi is Professor of Contemporary History at Deree – The American College of Greece and Associate Dean of Research and Innovation at the School of Liberal Arts and Science. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield.