With just a few days left until the opening of the Olympic Games in Athens on 13 August, many tickets remain unsold and hotel rooms remain empty. A flurry of reports about the dire state of preparation for the Games, fears over poor security against terrorism and the greed of hoteliers in the capital have deterred visitors.
Warnings by Greek National Tourism Organisation that overpricing for accommodation in Athens during the Olympics could kill the goose that lays the golden egg appear to have gone unheeded by hoteliers, who in some cases have raised room prices by a colossal seven to eight times in a bid to cash in on an expected bonanza. To add to the hoteliers' problems, the union Hotel Employees Association for Greater Athens, union in Athens has called for its members to go on strike ahead of the Olympics to demand higher wages. Their action comes as doctors and public transportation workers call for increased wages or special bonuses for working during the Olympics.
The Olympics are being staged in Greece at a time when the country has seen a sharp rise in prices following introduction of the euro and demise of the national currency drachma. Greece now has an image as an expensive vacation destination and could see up to an 8% drop in visitors this year, compared with the 14 million who travelled there in 2003.
While some 200,000 Americans visited Greece annually, the events of 9/11 and subsequent sky terrorism fears have reduced that figure by 50,000. The American Embassy in Athens estimates that there will be a 30% decline in the number of Americans visiting the Olympics compared with 2000; a figure aggravated by the poor performance of the dollar against the euro.
There are belated signs that with empty beds during August, Athens hotels may now be belatedly rethinking their marketing strategies. We can expect a flurry of last minute bargains in the capital.
This follows the special offers already being advertised by hotels on popular vacation islands including Rhodes, Corfu and Crete which have seen bookings down by as much as 10%. Hoteliers in the Aegean are reportedly dropping their rates and offering special deals in an attempt to recoup on a season which they had expected to be particularly good as a result of the Olympics boost.
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