Tour operators are worried: the Greek Islands are beginning to lose that golden reputation as the place in the Med to chill out and explore the ancient historical sites. Recently, there have been some high profile sex attacks, reports of dirty beaches, racism and incidents in some of the noisy rave type resorts. According to Noel Josephides, managing director of Sunvil Holidays, a Greek holiday specialist, “the number of British holidaymakers to Greece levelled off this summer, and the country cannot afford to be complacent. This was the first summer in 30 years that we did not have a single incident of hotel overbooking. Nothing is ever full now.”

Other tour operators have criticised Greece as a holiday destination. Abhi Dighé, a director of Kosmar Holidays, the biggest operator to Greece said: “In Portugal and Spain, the beaches are raked overnight. People there still leave cans and rubbish — but in the morning they come back to a clean beach. This has to happen in Greece as well. People don’t want to clear away rubbish and take it to an overflowing bin before they put their towels down. It is not luxury that people are looking for, just quality and safety.”

And yet, the Greek government recently announced that it would be building more large resorts.

So what is there to do in Greece? Interestingly, most tourists view Greece as a comparatively inexpensive sun-and-sea destination, rather than for its classical sites. The number of visitors to the major ancient sites and museums declined during the 1990s. On the other hand, there were more visitors to archaeological sites on islands that have become tourist destinations. Alternative tourism, including ecological and special interest holidays is gaining ground, but remains a small segment of the overall market.

Who will I be sharing my plot of beach with? The latest figures that the Beetle could get hold of show that 12.8 million visitors went to Greece in 1999. The Germans and the British account for about an astonishing 50% of all arrivals. They are followed by other western Europeans, mainly French, Scandinavians and Italians. There are comparatively few high-spending US and Japanese visitors. The number of tourists from the former communist countries of eastern and central Europe is increasing at a steady pace. There was an estimated 15% increase in visitor numbers in 2000, mainly of people going to Crete, and Rhodes.

So where should I go? More than 50% of visitors to Greece stay on half-a-dozen resort islands – Crete, Rhodes, Cos, Corfu, Mykonos and Santorini. – with airports equipped to handle international charter flights. In northern Greece, the main destination is the Halkidiki peninsula.

And how long is long enough? Most tourists come on package holidays, flying directly to a resort destination aboard an international charter flight. While the number of arrivals increased by over 30% during the 1990s, the average stay declined in length from over two weeks to about 10 days.

Is it posh? Um, well, no. If you go by the figures, Greece has an estimated 1.5 million beds in hotels and rooms for rent. Of these, only 30,000 are in luxury and first-class hotels – that’s 2%, and about a third of these are business hotels in Athens!

Greek officials predict that tourist arrivals will peak in 2004, when the http://www.athens2004.comOlympic Games will be staged in Athens.

Statistics provided by the Greek Tourism Services

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