Greek islanders drink to a better tourism season

CHANIA: “Yamas! Cheers to a good season, ” says Nikiforos Karifilakis as he pours shots of ‘tsikoudia’, the strong traditional Cretan spirit, a day after Greece reopened to tourists.

His beach bar is at the very end of the famous long wide sandy beach of Falasarna on the northwestern tip of Crete.

“I’m very optimistic that everything will be fine in the end and we will survive financially, ” says Karifilakis.

“I get positive messages from the hoteliers. People have the need to finally go out, have fun.”

Last Friday, Greece lofficially joined the race to woo back tourists, hoping the sun, sand and sea will lure holidaymakers after months of lockdown and bring the country a desperately needed revenue boost after last year’s miserable holiday season.

Before the pandemic, Falasarna beach was famous among others for its crowded big summer parties, which will not be possible again this summer.

“The most difficult part last year was when curfew was reimposed in the middle of the tourist season and we had to close our full bar at 11pm right at the peak of the night, ” Karifilakis says.

The pandemic has badly hit deeply affected the Greek economy, heavily reliant on the tourism sector which accounts for more than 20% of GDP. Tourism revenue plunged to €4.28bil (US$5bil or RM20.5bil) in 2020 from €18bil (RM91.4bil) in 2019, while tourist arrivals fell 76.5% to just 7.4 million, according to the Greek Tourism Confederation Institute. — Reuters