Athens Greece Now
LIVECAM Pireas.gr | Syntagma | Ermou Street | Corfu Beach Cam | Greece Live Cam List | Greece Media List | Streaming List
Athens Greece and Ymittos b each waves, Greece

Central Athens Google Map | Omonoia Circle Livecam | Syntagma

July 2, 2010

"Protect tourism"

A general protest from Kathimerini:

"Tourism must be protected...

Athens and a number of other linked destinations are already beginning to feel the brunt of the port closures, as thousands of tourists have canceled their cruise reservations in fear of these actions and the disruptions they can cause to their travel plans.

The impact on tourism, Greece’s biggest industry, should be taken seriously into account by the government the next time it sees a group breaking the law, because the country’s economy simply cannot bear anymore blows.

Kathimerini is very good at stating the obvious. To back up their protest is the letters page at Kathimeri, which includes the kind of letters you would expect to see:

[From a visitor from Florida, USA, After protesting strikes that stopped travel to the islands and the Acropolis] ...Apart from that, the city itself is unwelcoming and hostile to pedestrians. The sidewalks are traveled by mopeds and motorcycles and, if they are not, they are covered by street vendors of all sorts. The Omonia Square area ought to be off-limits to visitors. Filth is everywhere and no wall has been spared of unsightly graffiti or advertising posters. Is this what you inherited from Pheidias, Iktinos and Callicrates? A veritable ghetto. A shame and pity. A gorgeous country inhabited by unpatriotic vandals, assorted barbarians and uncivilized mobs. This is nowhere we wish to spend an extended visit."

I've read letters like that for decades, either at the AthensNews or elsewhere: its a generic complaint, in a way, that Greeks aren't like Americans (or British, or French, or whatever...) and obviously a lot of this is simply the perspective of a visitor to an unfamiliar place. But it certainly isn't the kind of publicity Greek tourism needs.

GREECE BY NIGHT More News - ArchivePhotos of GREECE
Greece's Golden Visa program
Advertisement: I am an Amazon affiliate

Greece Travel 2024

Athens Greece Now

Home | Information | Resources | News Archive | Photos | Book Shop | Contact | Copyright | Site Map