Battle Plan To Stop Greek Island “Booze Tourism”

Greek Deputy Interior Minister Christos Markoyiannakis recently met with British Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant to crack down on drunken British tourists that tend to cause trouble on Greek island resorts.

Over the past years the number of British tourists that get into trouble with the law in Greece has increased as well as the number who fall victim to accidents and crime-including sexual assaults-due to excessive drinking.

The tourist resorts of Malia on Crete, as well as Faliraki on Rodos, Kavos on Kerkyra and Laganas on Zakynthos are known “anything goes” destinations that attract young British tourists every summer.

Mr. Bryant visited Greece in July to promote the foreign office’s campaign “Another Side to Paradise” to urge British tourists to stay out of alcohol-related trouble.

According to press reports, “pub crawls,” organized by UK-based tour operators who are said to encourage excessive drinking, are to blame for the misconduct of British tourists. It is also said that during pub-crawls bar owners serve adulterated drinks with industrial alcohol.

Greek officials recently told the media that they have received threats from British tour operators who say they will “pull out” of popular Greek resorts if authorities try to introduce measures to curb this behavior.

However, Laganas Mayor Dionysios Komniotis commented to the press that his island is not interested in this type of tourism.

During July Greek officers from the islands of Rodos, Crete, Zakynthos and Kerkyra met with their British counterparts from Devon and Cornwall Police Departments on Zakynthos to discuss measures.

According to U.K. press reports, more rapes that involve British women occur in Greece then in other holiday destination (Britons are mainly linked to the attacks).

In addition, recent reported incidents that took place in Malia, Crete, include two fatalities of British youngsters, an alleged torching of a British man by a Greek woman and the beating of two British tourists by angry locals (one of them crashed a motorcycle into a local supermarket window).