Spare a Thought for Lesvos

[Enki]

I've just come back from Lesvos, a Greek island in the Aegean, which my wife and I have visited 14 times before. As is our want, we have spent two delightful concentrated weeks searching out birds, butterflies etc. We have had a most fantastic time on this idyllic Greek island.

However the purpose of this is not to discuss what a marvellous time we have had, but to focus on the people of this island, and their trials and tribulations with the influx of refugees within the last year.

Firstly, as we expected, we did not see one single refugee. In fact the number of refugees landing has now slowed to little more than a trickle. We know quite a few people who live on Lesvos, and, by talking to them, we are left in no doubt that the people of Lesvos responded magnificently to those countless thousands of refugees who landed there.

I think that this article from the Guardian explains the situation very well.

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/mar/24/lesbos-greek-island-in-limbo-tourism-refugee-crisis-future

The problem Lesvos now has is the lack of bookings from tourists who have been put off by the constant media attention on the island(same with Kos and Samos), so much so that, for an island for which tourism is so important, many people in the hotel/taverna business are worried that they will not have a viable business by 2017. This is not just a UK phenomenon. Bookings are drastically down in such places as Holland, Sweden, and, yes, even Germany. To all the people I have spoken to, one theme seems to be constant, the huge over emphasis by the media channels on distressing scenes from Lesvos which have put people off going to this marvellous unspoilt Greek island.

For instance, in the Uk, Thomas Cook had to cancel their Birmingham flight. We flew from Manchester luckily, but next year there will be no Manchester flights, they will fly only from Gatwick, and all April and many May flights will be scrapped.

This is such a sad situation. Everyone, quite rightly, focuses on the refugees and their very real hardships, but no one really thinks about those whose livelihoods are threatened by the aftermath of a problem for which they were not responsible and to which they responded with compassion and dignity.

I am a member of the Lesvos Birding Community, which has its own Facebook page(led by Steve Dudley) and through its auspices will be making my views quite clear to Thomas Cook, as will many of the birders(from all countries) to their own national airlines and travel companies.

Cheers,
Enki

[torridon]

Thanks for that enki.

I gather that the hotels in some parts are pretty full, booked out to NGOs currently, so lets hope that as the crisis resolves and the aid workers reduce, the tourists will start returning.  Long term, the island is always going to be an attractive option of holidaymakers, but how many businesses might go under in the meantime, no idea.

Good on you for going and not being put off by the situation btw.  Did you speak to refugees, or form some impression of them ?

[Enki]

Hi Torri,

Most of the Aid workers have now left, but a few remain. No, I didn't see any refugees but heard plenty about them. Mostly they were, as you'd expect, fairly confused but extremely relieved to have made it to Lesvos. Camps were set up near Molyvos and Mytiline, both towns being close to the Turkish Coast.(indeed, you can clearly see Turkey from these areas). Many walked the mountain roads to reach Mytiline where they were eventually taken to the Greek mainland. Now, there are Greek patrol boats turning back to Turkey any further refugees. However, the focus has now moved from Libya into Italy. I noticed that 3000 have landed there yesterday.

We have seen tourism grow over the years on the island but this problem will set it back several years. I agree, in the long term, I think it wll become attractive again, but, the hotel we were in, for instance, wasn't doing too badly during April/May because of the birders who visit the island. However, when we left, they had only one booking for the rest of May, and very few in June. Of course the main months are July/August but.even then, bookings were way down.

When bookings are down it feeds through to other parts of the economy, which is mainly farming and olives. Most of the food is locally grown/reared, so the farmers suffer also.