The tourist boom is a challenge for Athens
Tourists return dynamically to Athens and its monuments and with them return the challenges of mass tourism and the proper management of urban countries that appeal to everyone. Photo YOULI EPTAKOILI.
Bermuda shorts, trekking shoes and water bottles before climbing Acropolis. Wide hats, airy dresses, sandals and ancient Greek tiaras for a walk in its alleys. Plate. Some are photographed against the backdrop of the Holy Rock, others in front of the statue of Calla, some buy a few words from the wanderers in Monastiraki for immediate consumption, in the shops outside Ancient market You hear mainly “foreign”, groups with guide flags go up and down from the tourist buses. The tourists is here. In the center Athens there is a liveliness that researchers had to see before the pandemic broke out. ODAP data on the number of visitors to archaeological sites confirm this market, with the number of visitors amounting to approximately 2/3 of the “gold” in 2019. this year they amounted to 125,082. In the Hadrian’s Library the cities in 2019 were 67,996 and this year 41,392 people. The Acropolis in the first four months of 2019 was visited by 742,220 cities and this year 466,324 people.
At 12 noon tourist buses A small traffic jam started at the top of Dionysiou Areopagitou, bringing down tourists who came to organized agencies. The first to welcome them is Ioakeim Mylonopoulos, a street actor, in the uniform of an Athenian hoplite, who has been in the same position for the last three years. This year he tells us that there are indeed more tourists, but he complains that few want to be photographed with him, whether he is posing in a standing position or in a battle position. “Everyone goes around with cards, no one has money on them for a photo,” he says, asking a couple not to take a photo with their mobile phone.
Going up the paved road of Pikionis we see the long queue that has been formed by the ticket offices for those who did not plan to issue an electronic ticket. The skeptics about whether they will join the queue were Martin Dvorsky and Thomas Bellonhaf from Prague. “Maybe we should try it in the afternoon to see the west of the Acropolis and take pictures for hours. We came for three days in Athens. “It’s a very lively city,” they say.
Going up the paved road of Pikionis we see the long queue that has been formed by the ticket offices for those who did not plan to issue an electronic ticket.
Gematos was also the rock of the Supreme Court from cities that photographed the view and took a breath in the spring breeze. There we found Alejandro Masado and his partner from Colombia. “We take a trip with stations all over Europe,” they note. “We will stay in Athens for one day and then we will leave for Santorini. “Our next stop is Budapest.”
The tourist recovery is empirically confirmed by the tour guide Dimitris Karatzas that we met outside the Acropolis. The restrictive measures of the pandemic in the last two years have put a lot of pressure on their profession, in combination with the competition from illegal guides who do not have the necessary certifications. “Organized groups also have a guided tour of their program. The difficult thing for us is the individual citizens who come with a small budget and usually do not have the money for a tour guide. “I am here early this morning and I have not done a single tour,” he tells us.
Along with the tourist recovery come the new – old challenges for the center of Athens and its sustainability. Going down Apostolou Pavlou I see cyclists and runners trying to avoid the rainwater treatment works of the Acropolis, which have cut the sidewalk almost in half. In Koukaki, young couples with suitcases come and go from apartment buildings, in taverns barkers advertise Greek salad and a duet plays live the first notes of Zorba.