As travel and tourism shut down across the globe, hotels, restaurants, and resorts in Greece were hit hard.
"It was all so difficult and sudden," said George Filippidis, manager of the Andronis Hotels chain in Santorini and Athens. It's not just hoteliers that have borne the brunt of the lockdown. In Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city, Nick Nyfoudis has lost a combined 180,000 euros in revenue for two branches of his restaurant chain, The Life Goddess. His Greek-food delis are open again and "working well" with new social distancing rules thanks to an outdoors dining culture already common in Greece. But one obstacle could scupper his plans.
"I've not seen the island this empty since the 1980s. It became too busy over the past decade," said Marianna Sigala, professor of tourism at University of South Australia. The surrounding views from Babis Alexiadis' family hotel in Olympidia, in northern Greece.Hotelier Alexiadis believes a family-first approach could bring back tourists, many of them loyal customers who have been coming back for decades.
But some think encouraging local tourism might not work. If Greek nationals travel, "they stay with relatives for economic reasons," Sigala said. Locals dine in outdoor seating at a restaurant in Thessaloniki in late June after lockdown was lifted.Giorgios Venizelos of Cyprus was on his way home in late March after booking a flight from the US, via the UK. But instead of being with family and friends, he ended up in lockdown in Greece.
Don't visit Greece this summer.
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