How the world sees Greece
There are many reasons why thousands of people flock each year to Springfield's Greek Celebration - Glendi - which opens its doors to the public for three days beginning on Friday at the Greek Cultural Center. Some come for the camaraderie, others for the ...
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More than 3,600 refugees arrived in Greece during August, marking the biggest monthly influx to the country since the EU signed a deal with Turkey last year that was intended to stem the flow of asylum seekers to Europe. On the front line of Europe’s ...
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Huseen K. has testified before the court, as his trial for murdering a student begins. He arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker despite having been previosuly arrested in Greece for assaulting a woman.
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Consultant sought for GREECE regen. 5 September 2017 Advisory services are sought to support a redevelopment strategy for the Greek city of ...
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As the detritus from another summer season is swept from the streets of holiday hot spots around the world, locals are wondering if it was all worth it. Disquiet has grown about tourists behaving badly and making local communities suffer for their pleasure. In Palma de Mallorca, graffiti recently appeared telling tourists to “go home”. In New Orleans, a “neighbours, not tourists” campaign argues that AirBnB rentals erode local communities. In Venice, posters have been put up telling tourists they are ruining the city. There is a belief that the tourism system, like the financial system, is not working for everyone. Local residents are starting to feel like they’re receiving less than they’re giving. A combination of societal and economic concerns, a reduction in quality of life, alongside innovations that seem to push out traditional tourism work in place of a “gig economy”, is in part driving new tensions. When Spanish taxi drivers torched ride-sharing cars, they were reacting not only to the disruption of the so-called sharing economy, but also how predatory capitalism is creating new distrust, jealousy and social distance in an industry which politicians and businesses have long heralded as bringing stable jobs, intercultural dialogue and opportunity. Destinations such as Santorini in Greece and Cinque Terre in Italy are considering restrictions on tourist arrivals. Dubrovnik has introduced cameras to monitor the number of visitors. In Paris, incivility police tackle antisocial behaviour such as littering, while Magaluf introduced 64 bylaws to curb behaviours such as dropping cigarettes in the street, defecating, urinating or spitting in public places. Watch your behaviour in Venice. A climate of mistrust has created a new wave of tourist codes of conduct. The aim is to assign rules to make tourists more sensitive to local residents. Hvar in Croatia warns tourists that they face fines of €600 if they fail to dress appropriately. Dubrovnik enforces a dress code. Venice can hand out fines ranging from €25 to €500 for bad behaviour. That includes breaking a rule that states “no standing at any time” – even to eat and drink. Other codes of conduct have been introduced in Vietnam and Cambodia. A MORAL CODE But there’s a problem here. City authorities, and managers of tourist attractions who impose moral laws aren’t accountable to the people who are supposed to abide by them. The danger is that they perpetuate narratives about marauding tourists. They do, however, work as marketing strategies, with local politicians and businesses happy to gain reputational capital by scapegoating tourists for bad behaviour in their area. Requiring tourists to dress a certain way does not nurture trust and solidarity. Nor does it reduce exploitation or over-commercialisation. Codes create more social and physical distance between tourists and residents. They won’t make relations between tourists and residents any warmer, protect historic buildings, increase low pay for tourism workers, or prevent AirBnB from saturating residential areas. Indeed, distrust may contribute to the decline of tourism’s cultural merits. A message for tourists in Barcelona. EPA To rebuild trust and restore faith in the tourism system, authorities must step outside of their traditional roles. They need to work towards a smarter governance model that puts people rather than businesses first. It must recognise all those who have a stake in tourism and come up with strategies that work for all sides. Most people realise that tourism is economically and socially important. By putting people at the heart of everything they do, tourists and residents can coexist with and relate to each other without regulating behaviour or imposing codes of conduct. That might mean limiting the number of hotels that can operate or AirBnB properties that can be registered. Longer term tourism strategies could also seek to cut out the short-term political meddling that can leave local residents asking themselves who is really benefiting from tourism in their area. [The Conversation] _Michael O'Regan is affiliated with BeWelcome.org, a non-profit hospitality exchange system, as a volunteer member. _
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Budget supermarket Lidl is facing a backlash after airbrushing Christian symbols from packaging in order to remain "religiously neutral". The chain's new Greek food range features images of the famous Anastasis Church in Santorini, Greece, complete with ...
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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The Latest on the flow of migrants in Europe (all times local): 12 p.m. A district court in Germany has opened a trial against a migrant accused of raping and killing a 19-year-old female medical student in the southwestern city of Freiburg last year, in a case that fueled a nationwide debate about the country's migration policy. The trial started Tuesday for asylum-seeker Hussein K. in Freiburg. The victim vanished in mid-October on her way home in Freiburg. Her body was found in a river. The suspect was linked to the crime through DNA evidence and video footage from near the scene. The suspect arrived in Germany in 2015 without identity papers.
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