Bookings to Greece are down thanks to this month's riots and strikes, but that means you could pick up a bargain this summer. Gemma Bowes reports from a blissfully quiet Kefalonia.
Gemma Bowes
The Guardian, Saturday 29 May 2010
The little fishing harbour of Fiscardo, in the north of Kefalonia, is often described in guidebooks as Greece's prettiest village. The Venetian houses that line its waterfront are painted in sugary shades with contrasting doors and windows – blush-rose and green, lilac and pink, orange and red – all lit up like a twinkling rainbow at night. They form an enchanting, if slightly twee, setting, where holidaying couples and yachties potter from taverna to taverna to ponder whose bream might be freshest, which rabbit stifado the more traditional. A 30-minute drive south, beyond the equally pretty Assos, is the incredible curve of perfect white sand, leaking into water the bright turquoise of antifreeze, of Myrtos beach, one of Greece's most photographed.
These treasures, along with the Ionian island's legacy as the setting for Captain Corelli's Mandolin, have made Kefalonia one of Greece's most popular holiday islands. And yet, when I visited the week before last, it seemed rather empty.
This has been a dire month for Greece's tourism industry. The riots in Athens at the start of May, strike action affecting ferries, flights and goods transportation, financial meltdown, and then, to top it off, the ash clouds interrupting flights . . . all that was missing was an outbreak of bird flu to see off the country's image as a safe, easy holiday destination.
The sum effect caused one Fiscardo barman to conclude "this summer, there will be no summer" as he served our mojitos in an empty bar.
Volcanic ash had prevented the Manchester flight bringing in that week's northern tourists, and the weather was a bit iffy, but according to Tassos, the owner of our villa, Trizoni, Kefalonia's holiday villa owners were seriously worried about the coming season, and struggling to fill their properties.
Around 27,000 hotel nights were cancelled in the Athens area in the three weeks following the riots at the start of May, and many tour operators reported a nosedive in bookings – Thomas Cook said its were down 24% on last year; Olympic Holidays, the UK's biggest Greece specialist, said June bookings were down, though the World Cup was also a factor. "We undoubtedly saw a slowdown in bookings to Greece," said Chris Lorenzo, managing director of Seafarer, a Greek sailing specialist, "but media coverage has grossly exaggerated the riots and other problems, which has turned people away."
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