End of season? Maybe not
I thought we were heading towards the end of the season and that things would be slowing down. Not so in Yialos with the day boats. They continue to come, bringing day trippers with them who fill certain restaurants and bars, shops and cafes for a few hours each day. If only they were not all wearing all-inclusive wrist bands so that they might actually have some idea of how to see the island and make up their own minds as to where to eat. There are some intrepid go-it-alones included no doubt and some who refuse to follow the herd, but it’s good that those who do have guides who give them a brief history of the island as they wander around trying to avoid buying things.
I don’t know what ‘actually staying on the island’ numbers are like at the moment, but I suspect that’s slowing down. I’ve had a lot of people giving compliments about the island this year, and about my blog and books (thank you all!) but I’ve also had a few moans and I can see where, in some cases, these are coming from. You might want to be aware that a couple of places are now charging more for sunbeds on their beach concessions. I think €3.00 or €3.50 per bed – though other places give them to you for free, or they return your payment if you eat at their taverna, which seems a lot fairer. But there are also some places now charging for the umbrellas – at €2.00 per throw, or rather, per put-up. That does seem a bit daft to me but I can also see why it’s being done.
Everyone is hard up in Greece these days, at least the hard working, summer business folk are with their 16 hour days (at least) and their huge tax hikes and insurance hikes, and pension cuts and extra taxes simply for having a business, for selling this or dealing in that, or simply for… well, anything really. And I guess some folk are thinking that if they up prices they will make more money to pay these things. Surely the better way to do it is to lower prices to attract more custom, where possible? If I had a beach bar with sunbeds, I’d give them away for free not fee (there’s a slogan for you) and certainly wouldn’t charge for the shade. Okay, so you have to buy them and replace them, so charge for the first year, save the replacement cash and then have them for free until they need renewing. That’d get more people to your bar or business, especially when words gets around.
Anyway, just my thoughts on local economy for the day as look out of my window and see the Panagia coming in full up, and the Sea Dreams boat already parked up and emptying its mass of visitors. The weather is set to be warm and fair for a few more weeks, with perhaps some rain briefly next week, and, so far, the season isn’t showing that many signs of slowing down.
