First of all, on a very basic level, Corfu has more to offer than golden sandy beaches, sun and a crystal clear blue sea. Corfu is a green island, because of its lush vegetation all year round, full of olive trees, cypresses, and a wealth of other plants, insects, birds and animals.

It’s an island that is ideal for tourism all year round.

You can walk through the beautiful countryside, go horse-riding over ancient paths, cycle amid awe-inspiring olive groves, taste traditional local products, visit traditional wineries, olive presses, picturesque churches and ancient castles, relax and spend your vacations in contact with pure natural beauty.

On a second, more important level, Green Corfu stands for change.

Change in the way we think, act, perceive ourselves and relate to others and Nature. And, of course, in the way we spend our holidays! We are in the middle of the biggest crisis this world has ever known. The old is crumbling before our eyes and the new is already being born. This new attitude has to do with awareness, respect for Nature, cooperation, solidarity, giving rather that taking. And it is being manifested on Corfu in many different ways.

All kinds of nice and interesting people are moving to Corfu from all over the world, including mainland Greece.

Many of them are meditating, practising art and alternative forms of medicine. Especially in north-west Corfu, around the village of Arillas, where we live, a centre for spiritual development and alternative lifestyles is developing. People are growing organic and paying more attention to what they eat. And it’s not just the newcomers. Local people are also starting to become active and want to have a say in what their future will look like!

In the years we have been on Corfu, we have done our best to promote alternative tourism and raise consciousness on issues of sustainability on the island of Corfu. In 2013 we organised a meeting on alternative tourism and local products at the Silvaland Horse Center. More than 120 local businessmen came and we had some very good discussions.

The next year, 2014, we were the proud organisers of the first Corfu Symposium on Managing and Marketing Places, together with Dr Heather Skinner and Pepe Soomers. In thew following years the Symposium kept growing and the Institute of Place Management of the Metropolitan University of Manchester took over its organisation. You can read about the Symposium here. In this Symposium, academics in the fields of Place Management, Marketing and Branding meet, present their papers and discuss. But next to the academics we also have local businessmen present their efforts to change the image of Corfu by offering alternative holidays and producing high quality local products. It has been a great learning experience, we are trying to implement all this knowledge in the here and now, and the journey continues!