Section SOCIETY
TOPIC

IMERYS Industrial Minerals Greece Single-Member Société Anonyme
MILOTERRANEAN Geo Experience

Creation of a branded tourism product for Milos island, which: 

  • pays tribute to the rich geological and historical sites intertwined with 11,000+ years history of continuous mining, all part of Milos’ unique identity
  • serves as a new tool offered to the island’s tourist professionals for promoting Milos as a unique alternative tourist destination on a global scale, as well as for increasing their business and extend the tourism season.

MILOTERRANEAN addresses two main target audiences:

a) The Milos travel & tourism professionals, to whom MILOTERRANEAN is offered as a new tool/product to increase their business.
b) The MILOTERRANEAN user which has been defined as “the Inquisitive global Traveler who loves Nature and Action”.

The initiative was officially launched in May 2013 and is still on-going. In 2016 it has begun the creation of the 8th map "Botanical Trail” which is planned to be completed in spring 2017.

Milos belongs to the Greek island complex of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea, which started to rise out of the Aegean Sea some 2.7-1.8 million years ago. Volcanic activity continued for hundreds of thousands of years endowing Milos with a heritage of a broad range of minerals. Minerals have played a central role throughout the island’s history and they continue to play an important role today, as well. Apart from its mining activity, Milos’s local economy today is also based to a large extent on tourism. Estimated visitors are 80,000 per annum for an island of approx. 5,000 inhabitants. Services (incl. tourism) account for 55% of Milos’ domestic product, while manufacturing (most of it mining) stands for 40%, a major contributor to the local economy. Mining and tourism combined provide for a strong and steady economy, with literally no unemployment on the island. Local population is resident to the island around the year, since mining, unlike tourism, is not a seasonal activity.

There are extractive companies in Milos, with the largest activity by Imerys Industrial Mineral Greece S.A. (ex S&B Industrial Minerals SA), which has been present on the island since 1934. Currently, Imerys is the largest miner on the island employing almost 15% of the island’s total workforce. Since the very early years of its activity in Milos, Imerys has developed a social profile, engaging with the local community.

In 2011, a sharp decline in the number of tourists was noted, resulting from the on-set of the Greek crisis. Imerys, taking the next step in its Sustainability strategy, took on the challenge to create a branded product that would promote tourism, building on Milos’ comparative advantage: its unique geology. The project was initiated in the autumn of 2012 as an initiative of the Milos Mining Museum and sponsored by Imerys. Soon after, MILOTERRANEAN Geo Experience was born. 

The name consists of the island’s name itself and a second component referring to earth (terranean>terra), but also to the Mediterranean Sea, which creates the original name of MILOTERRANEAN. MILOTERRANEAN offers 7 Geo Walks, 6 on the island of Milos and 1 on Kimolos, which belongs to the same island complex, that guide the visitor’s discovery of significant mine, archaeological and geological sites through a network of well-marked paths and roads. These Geo Walks are available through fold-out maps, but also on-line through the MILOTERRANEAN website 

Geologists, mining engineers, foresters, cartographers and historians combined their expertise and insights, to interconnect geology, archaeology and the island’s dynamic mining activity in concise texts that accompany the mapped routes, and take the visitor on an unprecedented journey to this unique Cycladic scenery. 

MILOTERRANEAN uses several tools to “promote” itself:

  • hard copy maps with GPS precision (bilingual: english/greek)
  • bilingual website (www.miloterranean.gr) with maps incorporated into Googlemaps background & concise texts on points of interest
  • routes “signposting” in an environmentally friendly way
  • promotional video

MILOTERRANEAN was first introduced to the Milos community at an official presentation event on November 2012. Following this, a training dedicated to Milos tourism professionals was organized in cooperation with the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (April 2013). The official national launch to media, tourism, the travel sector and the wider public took place on May 4, 2013 in Athens at an event called “Mine or yours?” and received a warm welcome by tourism industry professionals and very positive publicity by the travel & tourism media. Most notably, MILOTERRANEAN was placed under the Greek Ministry of Tourism auspices. Full “adoption” of MILOTERRANEAN by the Milos tourism professionals and local community towards growing their business is Imerys’ ultimate goal.

Miloterranean is an initiative of the Milos Mining Museum with Imerys Industrial Minerals Greece S.A. being the sponsor. For its creation, Imerys cooperated with various external experts and professionals.

Imerys employees participated in the product’s design and creation.

Milos island, Greece.

Since its launch, Imerys has promoted MILOTERRANEAN with a series of activities reaching a large number of people:

  • Events (local/national level) reaching more than 3,500 individuals from targeted audiences: Milos local community, national and international tourism professionals, national and international media, special audiences like geologists, mining engineers (through conferences, symposiums taking place in Milos etc.), wider public
  • Information sessions organized by the Milos Mining Museum for Milos professional groups (taxi drivers, rooms-to-let owners etc.) in spring 2014, prior to the summer season, to better inform them on how they may use MILOTERRANEAN to promote their business.
  • The schools of Milos and neighboring islands of all levels incorporated Miloterranean into their annual educational programs organizing Miloterranean trekking. Specifically, 350 students and 40 teachers have participated in a total of seven training courses organized in 2016, while for 2017 is planned 8 programs involving 390 students and 45 teachers from primary and secondary education community of the island.
  • 6,200 maps sold on Milos (through the Milos Mining Museum) since summer 2013 (Data November 2016)
  • Very positive national & international publicity in travel, tourism and business media (printed – digital – radio). 

Benefits for Imerys Industrial Minerals Greece S.A. and the Milos Mining Museum are direct and indirect for the effectiveness of its Social Contribution:

  • The project received an award on the category Community & Social Development in the Greek Tourism Awards 2014
  • MILOTERRANEAN was placed under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism upon its launch
  • More than 450 locals attended the 3 events organized by Imerys in Milos prior to the project’s official national launch, with the purpose to present and inform them about MILOTERRANEAN
  • The schools of Milos and neighboring islands of all levels incorporated Miloterranean into their annual educational programs organizing Miloterranean trekking.
  • MILOTERRANEAN brought together a variety of different departments and professionals from Imerys who collaborated to produce this novel and unique result