Greece Travel Websites - Report Example

Critical Analysis of Tourism Websites Part Dream Vacation Vs Nightmare Excursion Dream Vacation: Greece It’s a complete cliché, the ideal of traveling to Greece—even Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants made this country a must-see landmark. But what Greece offers simply cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Buildings as old as Christ mark the landscape and the culture is dense, rich with significance. The people are proud of their heritage. It seems ideal for a tourist to soak up historical landmarks, cuisine, and experiences. With that said, I found the official tourist website for Greece and took a look around. The website is mediocre and the web designer must have used a strange layout code because mousing around causes weird changes to the layout. The header has four tabs: Home, Site Map, Newsletter Subscribe, and Contact. The homepage itself offers additional tabs: Greece (which expands to include links to History, Civilisation[sic], Geography, General Info, and Before You Travel), Explore (which expands to include links to Destinations, Culture, Sea, Nature, and Religion), Enjoy (which expands to include links to Activities, Leisure, Touring, and Gastronomy), Specials (which expands to include links to You in Greece, Downloads, and Newsletters), and GNTO (which expands to include links to About Us, Business Newsletter, Links, and Competitions). There is so much information, at first the website can seem a bit daunting. There are all kinds of related links, a plethora of historical information, most with links to outside websites that offer tourist trips, and an events calendar (though it didn’t seem to be functioning on the several visits I made to the website). Most notably, the website offers a large column of social networks that they hope you “like” them on—which seemed distracting, actually. I came to the site to learn more about Greece, not worry about their Google +1 or Twitter status. The website does include some photos of Greece and its monuments, though I was severely disappointed in quality, number, and size. Essentially, this website looked like they took their “Travel Greece” brochures and turned them into a website. Nothing special, too many choices that lead to the same places, and a distracting layout that makes choosing a tab to visit next confusing. Most frustrating, is that getting into the culture of Greece is nearly impossible, simply from the lack of visual evidence. Over and over I second-guessed this choice as the main tourism website for Greece, but GTNO stands for Greek National Tourism Organisation[sic], which is supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Overall, if I hadn’t seen Greece in movies and literature previously, I wouldn’t want to visit there if this were the only site available. The lack of visual evidence is frustrating, and though they offer a large amount of historical information about the cities and monuments, the information is not, ironically, very informative. At just about every opportunity, the website links you away from the main site to give the real information. From this tourism website, I’ve gotten a sick feeling about Greece. I’ll keep it as my destination because I believe the country is far more beautiful than the tourist site lets on, but I was highly disappointed because it seems—at least it should be this way—that the main tourism site’s only function is to attract tourists and visitors to their landmarks. Nightmare Excursion: Israel Sure, it may be the fount of the world’s oldest and most prominent holy site; but it’s guaranteed to be wrought with civil war and unfathomable dangers to the average tourist. With that said, I took a gander at Israel’s official tourism site which bears the promise, “Israel: Come find the Israel in You.” The Ministry of Tourism’s site is actually quite impressive, not at all what I expected. Obviously, their website wouldn’t be openly promoting their thousand-year-old holy wars, but the aesthetic was far more pleasing than imagined. To begin with, the header of the site lists weather, in Celsius and Fahrenheit, of four, what I took to be, major cities in Israel. Right away, I was comparing the weather in my city to the weather in Eilat, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, and considering that they aren’t half bad; quite nice, even. At the top of the page are four large tabs, Home, Religions and Destinations, Before You Go, Israel at a Glance, and Tourist Information. The homepage is far more than just a landing page for the average tourist. It holds a lot of information, including a scrolling calendar of events, an interest catalog, links to finding accommodations, attractions, tour guides, maps, picture galleries, and media campaigns. Next, I checked out the Religions and Destinations page and was immensely impressed by the vast treasure trove of information. Information on everything from the Uvda Valley and Eliat Mountains to the Dead Sea can be found and offers history, tips for travel, where to find accommodations, and even events that occur at certain times of the year. When you click on a landmark, the website directs you to the Israel at a Glance, or Tourist Information page, depending. The Before You Go page has links for finding a tour operator, weather forecasts, and passport information for travelers. It also has a lot of useful information like what type of electronics will be compatible, how to contact emergency services, and what to do if detained by immigrations or customs. The website footer also has a trove of information. From links on learning Hebrew, links for those in the journalistic travel trade, an examination of the diverse ethnic groups, to ordering travel brochures online. This website has everything someone might need if they ever wanted to take a trip to the holy land. Clearly, Israel has a very nicely paid web designer. Overall, my opinion has been changed. I believed the country to be a dangerous place, fraught with civil war, holy crusades, and rampant death. While that might still be the case, depending on a number of factors, the tourism website does an excellent job of making Israel look like a beautiful, artistic, tourist-friendly vacation locale. I was impressed, truly. As a tourist, traveling to Israel looks like an easy, exciting experience. I know what electronics I can bring, who to contact if I were to get in trouble, and the history on numerous landmarks that a tour operator could take me to in a snap. After reviewing both the tourist sites for Greece and Israel, based upon quality of website alone, I would choose to go to Israel. In comparison, the Greek website offers nothing more than a brochure for the visitor, while the Israel website is exciting, full of useful (easy to find) information, and has so many photographs of their country, the people and culture, and their landmarks that it would take days to fully absorb all they offer. Part 2: Itinerary Booked a flight to Athens, Greece from June 29th 2012 until July 6th 2012 from the Cleveland Hopkins airport using Expedia.com. 1) Flight My flight (Flight 7904 through Air Canada Express) leaves from the Cleveland Hopkins airport on June 29th at 10:50am and will arrive the next day at 10:30am in Athens. Using Expedia, it was easy to book a flight, and a room at the same time—booking a rental car proved impossible, though it seems that getting transportation to and from the airport will be provided via shuttle, and travel within Athens itself is easy to find. I reviewed a few other sites to compare prices, but Expedia.com seemed to have the best value. My flight from Athens leaves at 12pm on July 6th and I will arrive home that same night at 9:50pm. For whatever reason, travel back to the states doesn’t take nearly as long. Both are operated by Air Canada Express, so it must be a time difference situation. 2) Accommodations I’ll be staying at the Athens Atrium Hotel and Suites for the duration of the trip. The hotel is located in Athen’s Syggrou neighborhood and is near the Parthenon, and the Acropolis—which are all places that I wanted to see. I was able to book a beautiful suite, which you can see below: All of the rooms are luxurious and offer an air of fantasy, just right for getting a tourist comfortable in a country as fantastical as any in the world. The room includes free high speed internet, a breakfast buffet, bathroom amenities, and a balcony view of the city. I booked the regular “Superior Room,” which comes with 1 king and 2 twin beds, which seemed excessive but was the smallest room offered. As this is a tourist destination, they must assume people will travel with many guests. 3) Attractions I want to visit: the Parthenon, the Acropolis, and I want to take in a Greek Folklore Show. The tourism website for Greece was slightly unhelpful in attaining prices for tours of these monuments. It took a lot of digging, but I finally found a link to a website that offered guided tours of Athens. The cost for a one day guided trip around the Acropolis would cost 67 Euro, or about $89. That cost includes pick-up service from my hotel, the entrance fee, and a guided tour. The tour moves around the Acropolis, also taking in the Parthenon. Next on the itinerary is the Greek Folklore Show, which includes an evening tour of Athens and Piraeus, and a dinner (cost of drinking is excluded). The evening tour of Athens and Piraeus will take me to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, National Garden, Parliament, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Catholic Cathedral, Academy, Athens University, the National Library, and the old Parliament. Total cost is 62 Euro, or about $83. Also, spending six days and nights in Athens, I’ll need to budget for food. Based on the tourism website, there are numerous restaurants in the area, as well as street food vendors. Planning for three meals a day, I’ll budget $200 per day, just to be on the extreme safe side. Some meals will be inexpensive, from street vendors, but I’d like the opportunity to eat at nice restaurants as well. For food, then, $1200. Any extra money can spill over into other attractions that I didn’t know about, local events that sound exciting, or cultural museums not mentioned on the tourism website. I’d also like to shop in local markets and clothing stores, to really be able to take in the culture. I should also keep in mind that taxis may have a cost associated, and I may want to bring home souvenirs. So, I’m going to budget $600 for miscellaneous. 4) Budget Booked separately, the trip would cost $2,216, but by using Expedia.com, I was able to save $196, bringing the grand total for travel and accommodations to $2,020. Grand total, including visiting the attractions, is $3,992. Flight plus hotel: $2,020 Attractions: $172 Meals: $1200 Miscellaneous: $600 Grand Total: $3,992 Part 3: “Medical Tourism: The View from Ten Thousand Feet” I. Glenn Cohen’s article discusses the travel of patients to countries outside their own for the purpose of receiving medical care that is either better than they would receive in their home country, or much cheaper. Cohen calls medical tourism a “big business,” citing that “in 2005, Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, saw 400,000 foreign patients, 55,000 of whom were Americans.” Other countries saw a large influx of patients as well, most; in fact, are patients “seeking care that is unavailable at home, such as surrogacy services or stem cell treatments.” Obviously, another large part of medical tourism is uninsured Americans looking for bargain healthcare that the United States simply doesn’t offer. Medical tourism raises an important issue for counties like the United States, however. If so many American have to leave the country to get the healthcare that they require because they cannot afford the healthcare offered in their own nation; what recourse does the United States have to keep people from relocating for good? Cohen offers a multitude of theories, expanding on what governments (especially in the United States) have been pondering on how to improve the costliness of healthcare. Cohen even cites that there could be “enforcement and penalties in the destination country,” which would change the nature of outside healthcare altogether. In many ways, medical tourism could lead to the eventual introduction of a global healthcare plan. Works Cited. Greece Travel. A Guided Tour of Athens. < http://www.greecetravel.com/aegean/tour_of_athens.htm> Web. 27 March 2012. Israel Ministry of Tourism. Israel: Come find the Israel in You. < http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Pages/home.aspx> Web. 26 March 2012. The Official Website of the Greek Tourism Organisation. Visit Greece. < http://www.visitgreece.gr/> Web. 25 March 2012. Cohen, Glenn I. “Medical Tourism: The View from Ten Thousand Feet,” The Hastings Center Report 40.2 (2010): 11+. Read More