It won’t be long now. Sooner than later, Crete hospitality leaders will be paying Germans and other travelers from Central Europe to vacation on Greece’s biggest island. As if the problems with Crete’s regenerative practice were not already insurmountable enough, some of the biggest decision-makers here aim to flood the island with not-so-well-heeled tourists.
This morning, I was reading an article via Hania News of 2024, another record year, if problematic for some. The article does not lay it out in black and white, but if the quality of tourists landing on Crete does not go up… Retailers and other businesses are already smashed into the pavement of the pedestrian zones of the island’s most popular towns. Europe’s highest taxes (I believe), an uncaring and usually incompetent bureaucracy, and hotel barons cracking whips to save every dime, these and other painfully negative economic moves will end the island’s value in the long term.
The editorial team at Hania News sugarcoats (a bit) discussed ITB Berlin contracts, which were laced with positive comments by Dimitris Fragakis, the Secretary General of the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO). All bookings and deal attractiveness aside, one statement in the story by Aldemar Resorts Director Alexandros Angelopoulos clues us into what’s in store this year. Angelopoulos said that demand for the Greek market is slumping because of the economic squeeze on Germans and other Europeans who typically head to Crete. He suggested the same old solution of offering deals and dropping prices “to achieve high occupancy.”
The irony of a supposed sustainability expert calling for unsustainable economics is pungent. However, the president of the Hoteliers’ Union of Heraklion, Nikos Chalkiadakis, gave another warning sign that the future for Cretans and businesses might not be so bright. German international travel organizer FTI has enormous financial problems. The Federal Association of German Travel Agencies (Bundesverband eV VUSR) sounded the alarm on FDI some weeks ago. The bottom line is that FDI’s outstanding debt may have a negative effect on travel agencies and their customers.
It bears mentioning that Chalkiadakis’s concerns mirror those of many beach resort owners. He is mainly concerned with the flow of Germans on which these five-star all-inclusive resorts depend. Beds. Filling beds and buffet lines with thousands of Germans brought in by TUI, and others is all these people seem to be able to think about. It’s epidemic, this unbreakable TUI-Crete make-believe gravy train. Guaranteed occupancy, with prices continually hammered down, has hoteliers scraping the bottom of the “luxury” barrel to satisfy guest expectations. Of course, drunken 20-something travellers tossing their cocktails up at Malia and Hersonissos will still covet Crete.
Switching gears, a 2017 story at Deutsche Welle (DW) entitled “Toxic Greek party hotspots” gives us another example of Crete decision-makers playing the PR game. In this story, Efthymios Moutrakis, deputy mayor of Malia, assured DW that the seaside town in North Crete would no longer stand for drunken Britishers throwing up all over the resort destination. DW quoted him saying: “It’s high time we reclaim our prize tourist product. We’ve given these tour operators a free hand in branding the image of our town for far too long. It has got to stop.“
Moustakas, who also served as a deputy in the nearby party town Hersonissos, is the Managing Director of Thalia Deco City & Beach Hotel. Ironically, this 3-star beachside stay is billed as a family AND a partygoer stay. We find some telling results in custom searches for events in Malia and Hersonissos.
- In 2019, the advertisements told of the Champagne Spray Pool Party at Crystal Beach Club.
- And, of course, the infamous Malia Booze Cruise is advertised every year
- The Malia Live Beach festival is another highly publicized event you can understand via their Instagram channel here.
- And let’s not forget the ongoing Full Moon Party at secret locations not far from your family’s pleasant sea view dinner and pool lounging.
- As for Hersonissos, a digital visit to YouTube and the Star Beach pool party proves that things have mostly stayed the same since 2017. The fact that the video above is age-restricted says a lot about Hersonissos as an all-inclusive German family destination.
So, regenerative tourism (or even sustainable tourism) is actually not what’s in store if the decision kings of Crete hospitality (and governance) stay the course. What is sure to change are the number of Blue Flag beaches of Crete, the crystalline waters surrounding the island, and the height of the open landfills already overflowing in every prefecture. Local youth will continue departing because of the lack of good-paying jobs here. Another 60,000 hospitality workers will be imported from Pakistan or Egypt to fill low-paying jobs Greeks won’t touch.
Imagine booking a vacation via TUI for the Eri Beach & Village hotel in Hersonissos only to find the pool party and bungee jumping happening at Star Beach, less than a mile away. I know the reader has long since understood my point. The overtourism situation on Crete and other Greek islands will remain the same.
As for the Big Daddy hotel owners of Crete, anybody who reads the reviews of some of these hotels (Eri Beach included) will note signs TUI hammered the Crete tourism prices too low. Stinky rooms, a dirty pool, and a hotel doing well to get 3 out of 5 stars on TripAdvisor spell “too much TUI economics going on” to me. And I just randomly selected this hotel because it was next door to a notorious party place.
Should those concerned with the future of Crete and other Greek isles be listening to Dimitris Fragakis’s positivity right now? Or, will the same “no plan at all” by the Crete government and its hotel industry be looked at more carefully and realistically? The big question that arises for me is, “How many beds should Crete have on the beach? I wonder why some genius hoteliers have not created more all-inclusive villages in the hinterland. Regenerating what made Crete the crossroads of civilizations would be the ideal. It is not that difficult to achieve with the right investment and mindset.
Conversely, we can all expect 10x more tourists paying half price for everything, and Filoxenia is being demonstrated by immigrants from nations even poorer than Greece.