Greek Tourism: The other side of the coin

Rejoicing over the high performance of tourism are all well and good, however they should not sweep the many wrongs that still exist under the rug.

Instead of exhausting the discussion on forecasts of whether the levels of 2019 will be exceeded, it would be more useful to seriously consider the ways in which our tourism product will become more competitive and qualitative, in order to increase its contribution to the GDP.

There is a lot of room for improvement, as long as a lot is done and a lot is changed. There are no excuses, for example, that in the year 2022 there is no electronic ticket for archeological sites like Olympia, Delphi, Sounio and many museums.

The expansion of the tourist season remains on paper, we are trapped in the complacency of the “sun and sea” model, while other competitor countries are already investing in tourism experience models that bring visitors all year round.

The invaluable cultural wealth of our country is largely untapped. This is evidenced by the low attendance of visitors to the National Archaeological Museum, which is inversely proportional to the value of the exhibits.

As long as phenomena such as overtourism, environmental burdening, unbridled and uncontrolled housing development, low wages and poor working conditions, are not treated effectively, they will reduce the value of what so many call our “national capital”.