Greek beaches Fine and Sandy

[WisdomSeeker]

Greece has the second-highest number of clean and well-maintained beaches out of the 40 countries rated by the Blue Flag campaign in its annual awards, the results of which were made public yesterday.

The Denmark-based organization awarded Blue Flags to 404 Greek beaches (21 more than last year), as they fulfilled 29 criteria, including those for water quality, environmental management and safety. The campaign is run by the independent Foundation for Environmental Education, which is responsible for inspecting thousands of beaches around the world. Spain topped this year’s list.

Among the Greek islands, Crete was found to have the greatest number of suitable beaches, gaining 92 Blue Flags, followed by Corfu with 32 and Rhodes with 31. But Skiathos, in the Sporades, was this year’s big winner as seven beaches on the island were added to the list for the first time.

http://www.blueflag.org/blueflag
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100013_31/05/2006_70348


Yeah,my homeland Crete tops the list:victory::clap:

[loVe vIRUS]

Yeah, the only problem is that it's too expensive :whistling . You should really do something (not necessarily by cutting the prices), like propose tourists things that they can't find in other countries because if not Bulgaria and Turkey will become the first destination of europeans.

Has the inceasing tourism of Turkey had any impact on the greek one?

[Torontezos]

You get what you pay for, as far as tourism, I don't believe Greece's tourist numbers have been affected.
Keep in mind it's pricy to visit Greece now because of the Euro, whereas Bulgaria and Turkey are not in the EU so the currency exchange is favourable right now.

[WisdomSeeker]

Yeah, the only problem is that it's too expensive :whistling . You should really do something (not necessarily by cutting the prices), like propose tourists things that they can't find in other countries because if not Bulgaria and Turkey will become the first destination of europeans.

Has the inceasing tourism of Turkey had any impact on the greek one?

Not only the increasing numbers of tourists in Turkey,but Kroatia and Slovenia are direct competitors of Greece in the tourism sector as well..

[loVe vIRUS]

You get what you pay for, as far as tourism, I don't believe Greece's tourist numbers have been affected.
Keep in mind it's pricy to visit Greece now because of the Euro, whereas Bulgaria and Turkey are not in the EU so the currency exchange is favourable right now.

I'm not sure that prices in Greece are a necessary reflect of quality. I mean that for the same amount of money, you pass better holidays in countries like Bulgaria, Turkey or Croatia. And i can say that even Spain has more "satisfying" prices than Greece (in general).
I think that the succes of Greece lies much more in its history than beaches. But history is quickly forgotten if people don't get the maximum satisfaction from the other things as well. So if you don't improve the quality/price ratio i'm affraid that you will keep losing tourists. That's also because the Greek tourism is generally oriented to middle class people and not to the upper class, like in France or Monaco, who won't suffer too much if the quality/price ratio is not perfect. I mean, somebody who's got money will in France and not in Turkey, Bulgaria etc, even though these countries might provide him better conditions.
I don't think that it's the same thing in the case of Greece.:whistling

[loVe vIRUS]

Not only the increasing numbers of tourists in Turkey,but Kroatia and Slovenia are direct competitors of Greece in the tourism sector as well..

Croatia maybe but Slovenia hasn't got as beautiful beaches as the Greek ones.

[WisdomSeeker]

I'm not sure that prices in Greece are a necessary reflect of quality. I mean that for the same amount of money, you pass better holidays in countries like Bulgaria, Turkey or Croatia. And i can say that even Spain has more "satisfying" prices than Greece (in general).
I think that the succes of Greece lies much more in its history than beaches. But history is quickly forgotten if people don't get the maximum satisfaction from the other things as well. So if you don't improve the quality/price ratio i'm affraid that you will keep losing tourists. That's also because the Greek tourism is generally oriented to middle class people and not to the upper class, like in France or Monaco, who won't suffer too much if the quality/price ratio is not perfect. I mean, somebody who's got money will in France and not in Turkey, Bulgaria etc, even though these countries might provide him better conditions.
I don't think that it's the same thing in the case of Greece.:whistling


Well,the phenomenum of the mass tourism firstly appeared in Greece during the 70's,when hippies started flooding the Greek peninsula all over. Till then Greece had no tourist infrastructures. It is normal that it has been built around this phenomenum. But,as years passed by, the main goal of Greece was to attract wealthier tourists,because we understood that more revenue is created by them,than the young kids who take their friends and spend one week to the greek islands. So luxury hotel groups have been built in the 80's already.

Basically the main target of the Greece's tourism is the middle class,as it is normal to be. But saying that the quality/price ratio is lowering,im afraid that is not true,because there has been a constant increase of incoming tourists in Greece during the last years.

For this summer we expect a raise of 1,5Million tourists than the last one,making the number of tourists visiting Greece to 13,5millions.
That is a rise of more than 10%. as last summer 12M tourists visited Greece.

Predictions say that this current will continue to the forecoming years as well.