Alimnia island chosen for survival game
The small and uninhabited island of Alimnia, geographically located between Rhodes and Halki, was chosen by the Belgian travel agency "Beyond Borders" for organizing there a survival game called The Island on October 2016. This is a tourist product invented for the first time by this travel agency and will be inaugurated at the complex of Dodecanese, after coordinated actions of the Department of Tourism of the Region of South Aegean in cooperation with the Greek Tourism Organization Branch in the Netherlands.
In fact, few days ago, a group of representatives from the Belgian agency, headed by Mr Joris Meermans, visited the island of Alimnia accompanied by local authoritatives, including Mrs Marietta Papavasileiou, vise governor for tourism in the Region of South Aegean, and Mr Mihalis Patros, major of Halki. Alimnia is a small island that has not been inhabited since the Second World War. Many residences still survive on the island, but largely ruined. In summer, excursion boats from Rhodes and Tilos transfer visitors there for a relaxing swim in the crystal waters for the island.
After their visit, Mr Meermans declared his enthusiasm for this small island, mentioning that except from natural beauty, Alimnia also has all the other characteristics they were looking for this game. He added that this could be the start of a very good cooperation wth the Region of South Aegean and the municipality of Halki. Mrs Papavasileiou stressed that such innovative projects accentuate the potentials of the Greek islands, attract special categories of tourists and can eventually contribute to the elongation of the tourist season.
The basic idea of this survival game is to have 20 participants abandoned on an uninhabited island for 10 days. During this period, they will have to take some tasks, such as build a shelter, find food, etc, in order to gain points or few small prizes, such as a night in a comfortable accommodation at a close island or fresh food. The participant who will collect most points in 10 days will win a large prize, which has not yet been announced by the agency.
This game will be widely publicized in Belgium, the Netherlands and other European countries, also through social media and a website specially designed for this purpose. In case the participations exceed the expected number, it is possible that the game takes place more than once. These games are smart tourist products to attract visitors who are looking for something else than just the sea and sun model.