Mark Warner took eight travel agents to its Lakitira Beach Resort earlier this month, in the wake of thousands of people, mainly from Syria, coming ashore last summer amid heavy media coverage.

Agency sales manager Julie Franklin told TTG the trip was organised to win back the “lost confidence” of consumers who had chosen to stay away this summer because of safety concerns during the ongoing humanitarian situation.

“Because of the issues we had with the island last year, we wanted to give agents a chance to see for themselves as a lot of consumers have lost confidence with the island,” she said. “It’s a key summer resort for us and so getting agents there was really important.”

During the trip, the operator arranged for the travel consultants to be given a guided tour of Kos Town as well as taking part in a biking excursion to the nearby town of Kardamena. “We weren’t in our own little bubble,” added Franklin, “we saw plenty of the island.”

Sarah Jarvis, team leader at Flight Centre, Richmond, who was on the fam told TTG that seeing the destination first-hand had helped to dispel negative news coverage she had witnessed. “It was my first time visiting Kos and from what I had seen portrayed in the media you got the impression that there were no tourists on the island, that it was overcrowded with refugees, and that the resorts would be ghost towns,” she said.

“When we visited Kos Town our guide showed us where the refugees had come ashore, but you couldn’t see any evidence of it. Even in the square where many of them had camped, there was nothing and we didn’t see any refugees while we were there.”

Jarvis is now calling on the industry to do more to promote Kos and reassure clients that it is safe.

“The island is really beautiful and the resorts we stayed at on the fam were amazing,” she continued. “It really opened my eyes and suppliers need to have a big push and really start selling Greece again.”