Maryam Rezaei
Chrissoula Manolakaki
Panos Chreppas
Stamatis Tsagias
Asimeni TountaFivos Tsaravopoulos
Fivos Tsaravopoulos has a very big vision… his vision is to make his country the number one destination for walking and hiking trails and paths! Many of us have big passions and visions, but the truth is that not many of us actually stick to it no matter what! And by that, I mean to follow your dream no matter the closed doors, no matter the psychological or physical constrains, no matter the lack of manpower and investment and so on…! He is very committed and has tremendous patience and drive to follow through his dream for bringing new and high quality tourism to Greece!
Fivos Tsaravopoulos always remembers himself outdoors with his parents from a very young age… His parents being archaeologist and folklorist, his connection with the environment and the earth was very strong. So, he received a Master’s degree in International relations in France and another Master’s degree in environment and resource management in Amsterdam. Fivos is a solid professional with deep knowledge and who takes everything he does to the last detail… his word counts!
On one of his travels to the island, Kithira, and on a project to translate the islands website, he came across a section on the website that was about the trails of the island and it triggered his curiosity… After thorough research, he concluded that there are so many paths in every island and on every village in the mainland of Greece yet to be discovered! As most of these paths are only know to a few locals! So, in 2006-07 he started to start from the island Kithira and till this day he and his team have been making wonders by bringing new income by opening the paths for new kind of tourism! So how does this work? Well the first steps that they take is to study the historical, ethnological and general bibliographical of the area. Second through GPS-tracking the trails and roads and geo-tagging, they track and pin every important spot along the paths. After that, they sign-post the trails... Finally, they promote the trails network by creating with their partners a website and a leaflet dedicated to the paths of the area and doing everything possible to promote the places in any way they can, even talking to the hotels and restaurants to educate them in promoting the paths for new tourism! According to a research they did on one of their projects, Kithira paths, an investment of 50 thousand euros in 5 years brought the island of Kithira 1,5 million euros in tourism!!!
What mostly stands out about him, is his integrity and honesty! His every body cell is working towards achieving his goal… he is incredibly polite and a REAL gentleman! Fivos Tsaravopoulos is also extremely proud and generous… just a small example: I tried paying the bill behind his back as a token of great admiration and pleasure, but the waiter made it clear that he wouldn’t accept from me not in a million years, as Fivos had made it very clear!!! I practically begged him but no luck!
http://www.pathsofgreece.gr
