Don't Be Scared To Visit Greece

Greece is currently in a debt crisis unimagined for years. And while the pictures of Greece we see nowadays are far from attractive, these should really not stop us from traveling there this year.

The Greek islands, a popular summer destination, "remain as peaceful as ever. I don't think you can write off the entire country because of problems in the capital," Frommer said. The U.S. State Department has no travel warnings or alerts regarding Greece, but it did issue a warden message last week advising travelers to be wary of protests in Athens and Thessaloniki.

Greece is a stable democracy, and strikes and demonstrations are generally orderly and lawful, but police sometimes use tear gas to quell protests that get out of hand, the State Department advises. Most visitors of Greece are Europeans, especially from the EU, and Americans, according to Greeka.com, a private company licensed by the Greek National Tourism Organization.

"Visitors should expect regular strikes and demonstrations throughout Greece during May," Britain's Foreign Office advises. "Strikes and demonstrations are sometimes called at short notice and can cause disruption to public transport in and out of Greece [including air travel]." But that's pretty much true for most of Europe anyway.

At least one American living in Athens says the level of violence wasn't as bad as news outlets portrayed. "Protests are a way of life here. It's the way people vent," said Carole Heiman-Kezios, who with her husband, Basil, rents out apartments to travelers and provides off-the-beaten-path guides. "It is definitely the way they do things in Greece," confirmed Gerard Bellino, vice president of U.S. leisure travel for CWT Vacations.

Bellino said CWT Vacations has moved a few concerned clients to places away from Athens' Syntagma (Constitution) Square, the focus of much of the unrest. But away from the restive capital, "it's business as usual in the islands," he said. In Athens, protest marches and strikes usually are promoted well in advance and tend to be held in the same places, so it's not hard to work around them, said Heiman-Kezios. "When there's a march, you just go away," she said.

Heiman-Kezios, who has been hosting travelers for eight years, has not had any cancellations in the wake of the unrest. On the contrary, "In the last two weeks, I have had more last-minute inquiries than I have ever had in the entire time I've been doing this," she said. Some of those may be people who were booked in downtown hotels but decided they didn't want to stay near Syntagma Square in case there's trouble, she conceded.

Bookings to Greece and across Europe are up from last year as the U.S. recession begins to ease, Bellino of CWT Vacations said. "Business was down, given the economic environment," he said. "… We are just seeing a return to normalcy."

The bottom line is that Greece is still a fine place for a vacation, and travelers need not worry about political unrest, Frommer said. "I would have no hesitation going to Greece this summer," she said.


Photo source Eustaquio Santimano