Riots in Greece Bad for Tourism : Kathika Travel Website

We normally find Greece in the travel pages because of its image as a fantastic place for a summer vacation – whether you’re visiting capital city Athens or taking a cruise around the Greek islands. But this week Greece has hit the headlines in a way that is definitely not so positive for tourists, and now many countries are warning its citizens against traveling to Greece.

The Beginning of the Greek Riots

The reason behind the warnings is a series of riots that are being held mainly in Athens but also in other cities and areas of Greece. The riots were sparked by the death of teenager Alexandros Grigoropoulos, and the confusion over whether he was accidentally killed by a ricocheting bullet or whether police fired at him directly after a neighborhood scuffle.

Whatever turns out to be the most accurate story of the death of Grigoropoulos, the fact is that this case prompted locals in Athens to demonstrate against police, and before long this turned into full scale riots. Students and other protesters have been attacking riot police by throwing various objects and the police have been retaliating with tear gas and many arrests.

Greek Riots Spread, Affect Tourists

From its beginnings in Athens, the rioting has spread to many other parts of Greece including Thessaloniki, Corfu, Crete and Rhodes, all major tourist destinations. In fact, protests and in some cases more rioting has even spread beyond the Greek borders to Greek parts of Cyprus and to other countries where Greeks are represented including Germany and Spain, Italy and Denmark, where young people feeling the bite of the economic downturn are eager to protest against the system.

Unfortunately, the riots in Greece have made life difficult for some tourists there and with a combination of the continuing riots and other previously planned strikes, many tourists are being warned not to travel to Greece.

Many people are concerned about the effects of the riots on tourism, which accounts for twenty per cent of Greece’s GDP. Locals believe that as well as damage to the Greek economy in terms of damage caused by the riots and the suspension of markets during the troubles, tourism will be particularly negatively affected. They say that in difficult economic times where people are already thinking twice about traveling, seeing scenes such as these riots on television will be pushing Greece further down the list of people’s vacation destinations.

photo credit: xamogelo