On tourism, haircuts, supervision, EU unity
If the eurozone is considered to be a company in which Greece holds 2% of the stock, and the business is in danger of collapse because the shareholding of Greece is in doubt, then the business plan is flawed.??¨??¨
Steve Williams
Corfu
??¨
Vacation deals??¨
I recently spent six days on Paros; the hotel offered the lunch and a car with the deal, My thought is that the hotels need to adjust their packages so that if the traveler wants this they can opt for it. Furthermore, many of the hotels? and islands? websites are difficult to navigate; the national tourism bureau needs to organize this. They also need to advertise abroad on why people should travel; Greece isn’t just for the eurozone, but for US as well, etc. I needs to come into the 21st century with media advertising and offers; people are looking for deals.??¨??¨Lastly, all of your strikes have left a very bad taste in the tourists? mouth and when they come home, guess what, they tell their friends how stupid the Greeks are! The taxis should have been put back to work by the so-called government that you all blindly support.
??¨Also, all of the people taking from the system and not paying in — how long do you think a country can exist? Too good for too long and now you all have to pay the piper — very sad!??¨??¨I am first-generation American Greek and love the homeland of my father and mother. We here in the US are also in bad shape — let?s face it, the whole world.??¨??¨Why does Greece with a population of about 15 million have 300 ministers in the parliament? In the US we have 350 million and only 535 in Congress. What is wrong with your picture???¨??¨??¨George Retounotes??¨??¨??¨Tourism in Greece??¨
My congratulations with this result. But next year Greece may need some other policies in order to realize this result again. And start them up now! Because people do already cancel plans to visit Greece because they are afraid services agreed on will not be delivered (in time). Services like flights back home. Hotel services. Et-cetera. This is due to strikes and other unexpected or frightening events they saw on television concerning the situation in Greece.??¨??¨And please do realize some project in order to stop the sale of illegal copies of CDs and DVDs in the street. If there were one effective policy to promote Greece as a country were laws do have more value than the ink in the relevant law-book, I should advise to prohibit these activities. They are not only boring for the tourists; they know very well when somebody does this at home, this person is arrested in no time. But today and already for many years, Greece is showing that it does have a problem with this kind of organized crime. (So, does it have a problem with other kinds of organized crime? So, what kind of a country is it anyway? Is this Europe?)??¨??¨Hans van der Schaaf??¨??¨
Hurrah! Greece’s debt has been cut in half!??¨
A new business opportunity presents itself: invite bets that, when this thing is over, Greece’s debt will but cut in half. Those who bet all their wealth on it will end up bankrupt afterwards.??¨??¨Invite bets on what the actual debt reduction will be and whoever comes closest wins the jackpot. Put me down for a maximum debt reduction of 30% (this already assumes that Greek banks will and can fully participate in this PSI). Or less than 20% (if Greek banks can’t afford to participate).??¨??¨Invite bets on the probability that the suffering of Greeks will soon come to an end because of all the debt which has now been forgiven. Put me down with close to zero.??¨??¨Invite bets on the probability that the day will come when Greeks will bitterly regret having accepted a haircut. Put me down with 100%.??¨??¨Klaus Kastner
Austria??¨
??¨Supervision?
??¨?The country does not need heavy supervision, only technical assistance and know-how [transfer],? said Kouvelis, adding that anything more than that must be resisted.??¨
Surely heavy supervision is exactly what Greece needs?
Greece is far too incompetent, corrupt, selfish and dishonest a country to be trusted with implementing reforms. Sad but true.??¨
Andreas Eriksson??¨??¨
Greek tourism??¨
My husband and I have been coming to Greece — as independent visitors — since 1981. We love the country, and cannot conceive of not coming. However, the disruptions caused to tourism this year by strikes is not inconsiderable. Our daughter, who has been coming to Greece since 1985 — now lives in USA and has limited holidays. She and her husband cannot take the risk of being stranded at ports or airports when expected back at work. We older people — retired and fancy-free! — are not tied by deadlines, but you must remember that you are competing in a difficult market, and need to be able to reassure your visitors that upsets will not occur.
We will carry on coming — even if we have to crawl — but your casual visitor will look at the international reporting of the events in Greece this year and may well think twice. The logic of taxi drivers striking for 48 hours in Rhodes on the 19th of October escapes me — thank goodness for the friendliness and hospitality of Greeks that enabled two elderly tourists to make our flight. Already friends and relations are dismissing the idea of a Greek holiday next year — their loss I know — but also the tourism industry’s.??¨??¨Dilys Nottingham??¨UK
