Athens Avoided During Holiday Season
Travel professionals said last month that Greeks and foreign visitors did not opt to spend their holidays in the Greek capital.
According to the Athens-Attica Hotel Association, Athens recorded low bookings last December due to “the complete absence of a festive climate.”
“The decline in bookings compared to the past is enormous,” the association’s president, Yiannis Retsos, told the press.
The association said December 2010 was the third consecutive December dominated by riots “with molotov cocktails” and tons of uncollected garbage on the streets of central Athens.
“We should not use the economic crisis and social unrest as an alleged reason to cover inbuilt weaknesses or the inefficiency of people and services,” the association said.