As night descends, Omonia Square bustles with activity, its circular junction adorned with the vibrant hues of yellow taxis, amid the constant flow of cars and pedestrians. The glow of the fountain and the imposing facades of the surrounding hotels add to the scene’s allure. However, in the adjacent side streets, a somber ambiance prevails.
A few days before the big Easter exodus of huge numbers of visitors and with the start of the summer season looming, concern is growing over the serious shortcomings of the National Health System (ESY) units on the Greek islands.
Each year, thousands of baby green sea turtles clamber across a beautiful, white-sand paradise that is one of the largest hatching sites of this species in the Atlantic, adorably making their way to the sea. There’s one noticeable absence: people.
I want to start with two revealing, and I would say disturbing – in their combination – set of numbers. The only income that the Municipality of Athens had from tourist activity in 2023 – by all accounts one of the best years for tourism – was just 2,714,664 euros.
Most of the increased flow of visitors headed for short-term rentals.
Overseas markets, such as the US, Australia, China, Japan, Korea and Canada, from where the air journey to Greece takes more than 10 hours, offer scope for significant further development of Greek tourism.
Travel receipts posted a remarkable 24.5% increase year-on-year in Greece in January and February, Bank of Greece data showed on Friday, helping moderate the country’s current account deficit.
“The tourism sector has to adapt to the situation we are experiencing, which is absolutely abnormal,” a member of the Catalan government told the Financial Times in an article published on April 18.
Eastern Mani in southern Greece and the islands of Karpathos and Syros have been deemed to have the most environmentally friendly beaches, and will be spared of umbrella loungers this year, according to a list drafted by the Finance Ministry of 198 “untouched” beaches in 49 municipalities, published on Friday.
Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni received the new ambassador of Japan, Koichi Ito, on Thursday.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, currently on a campaign tour of Lesvos, on Friday met with Turkish tourists on the eastern Aegean island, which has seen a surge in visitors from the neighboring country following the implementation of the “visa-express” program.
First stop: “See that house at the end of the green slope? The man who owned it kept the area as it was, untouched, refusing to sell it no matter how much he was offered. Now it’s passed on to his son, who’s selling it for 1.5 million euros.
Travel receipts posted a remarkable 24.5% increase year-on-year in Greece in January and February.
Malta-based airline Universal Air is next month starting five weekly flights to Greece.
The drowning of a 60-year-old tourist in Hania on Crete on Sunday has brought to the fore the need for more lifesaver cover, as the annual average of such deaths in Greece stands at 359, either while swimming or participating in recreational activities.
As Greece prepares to welcome the highest number of foreign visitors in its history, basic public infrastructure remains woefully inadequate.
