Greece: Strikes & Tourism

I arrived in Athens around 2 o’clock in the morning and although I went to sleep knowing that I had to get up in less than four hours to catch the ferry to Santorini, I was ecstatic. However, my enthusiasm for Greece was soon crushed the next morning when I saw the lines of protesters blocking the entrance to our ferry. There was a strike going on in opposition of the reforms to pensions and labor laws that have been put into place due to Greece’s current economic crisis. BBC News said “the reforms were a condition of an economic rescue package from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).” Waiting out the strike, although it was hopeless, I came to learn that these new laws had cut the workers salaries by at least 30%. MSNBC also wrote an article about the strike and it’s effect on tourists: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37865311

Considering that tourism brings in 20% of the nations income and these strikes have caused it to decrease by 10% (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10390221.stm),
I would think that ferry workers would be advocating the tourists to travel by ferries, not preventing them. With each strike, not only do the ferry businesses suffer, but also the businesses and hotels on the islands are losing money that these tourists bring in. However, I overheard a Greek woman comment about the strike from their perspective, “They’ve lost their rights, what would you do?”

Although our plans became drastically altered we decided to make the best of our situation and explore Athens. One of the major tourist attractions of Greece is the Acropolis. Being a tourist myself, the Acropolis was the first thing on my list to see while I was there. As soon as the site came into view on top of the peak of the mountain, the density of people in the area doubled. Tourists flocked to the ticket office and there were vendors selling souvenirs and places to eat all along the road.

The Acropolis is not only important to the Greeks’ culture and history, but it is important to tourists as well. As a result, the Acropolis is a major contributor to the heavy tourism in Athens and influences the Greek economy. Due to the high significance of all the buildings on Acropolis there is a restoration project that has been intact since 1975 in order to preserve the life of the buildings on the site (http://www.acropolisofathens.gr). What’s interesting about this project is that not only is the Greek State paying for it, but the European Union is also a contributor. When I read this, the first world that came to my mind was globalization.

These ancient buildings are not just for the Greeks to take pride in and recognize how important they are to their culture and history. This shows that Europe is proud to have them within the Union and that they want to share this relic with anyone who is interested. Acropolis isn’t only a part of Greek nationality; it is such an important influence in Greek tourism because it is also a symbol of human civilization. The World Heritage Center of UNESCO says it best by calling the Acropolis, “one of the most sacred symbols of global unity. It is inside you.”