“Contrary to what you might hear, Greece still welcomes German tourists. But they – and other Europeans – are just not coming in the numbers they used to,” starts the report on Greek tourism by British Guardian‘s editor Ian Jack.
The editor describes his one-week-long vacation on Kefalonia island as a paradise and comments that Greece “intended to build its economy on people like us: sun-seeking tourists from northern Europe and North America, rich enough to spend two or three weeks every year in a hotel or a rented villa, to hire a car, to eat in tavernas and buy wine and peaches in the local mini-market.”
German tourists did not pick Greece this summer because they feel unwelcome in the country. But neither did other Europeans as well. Ships carried 15% fewer passengers and 25% fewer vehicles than in 2011 and most villa and pensions owners have lost their hopes for booking their rooms this summer.
The report stresses the fact that despite the crisis, Greece is still expensive. “The ‘cheap holiday’ that Greece used to promise northern Europe has gone away,” continues the editor. If the country does not exit crisis soon, then there will be many devastated places and buildings all over the country.
The reporter advises Greece that “turning to the rich of China and India into Hellenists and sunbathers may be the only way to finish and fill them, now that Europe is over the summit of its prosperity. ” And he might be right!
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