TEI

Now I know the happenings at TEI are very exciting but......

There must be something else to write in your blog.


It's getting boring.

Finland ?

Ο Διευθυντής του ΕΟΤ Φινλανδίας κ. Ευάγγελος Πατούχας, ο οποίος κάνει διακοπές στον Άγιο Νικόλαο, επισκέφθηκε χθες το Δήμαρχο Αγίου Νικολάου κ. Δημήτρη Κουνενάκη, με τον οποίο είχε συναντηθεί πριν λίγο καιρό και στο γραφείο του στη Φινλανδία.
Ο κ. Πατούχας έκανε αρκετές θετικές αναφορές για την περιοχή μας και ιδιαίτερα για την καθαριότητα της πόλης μας καθώς και πολλές άλλες χρήσιμες παρατηρήσεις. Επίσης επεσήμανε ότι το γραφείο του ΕΟΤ στη Φινλανδία αποτελεί ένα πολύτιμο συνδετικό κρίκο για την ανάδειξη του τουριστικού προϊόντος του τόπου μας και θα πρέπει ο Δήμος μας να βρίσκεται σε συνεχή επικοινωνία μαζί του.
Ο Δήμαρχος ενημέρωσε τον κ. Πατούχα για το Σχέδιο Τουριστικής Ανάπτυξης της περιοχής μας, για τη μελέτη ηλεκτροφωτισμού της Σπιναλόγκας καθώς και για άλλα θέματα. Στον κ. Πατούχα ευχήθηκε καλές διακοπές και του προσέφερε ενημερωτικά έντυπα και υλικό για την ιστορία και τα αξιοθέατα του Δήμου Αγίου Νικολάου.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It may interest the Mayor to know that we have NO Finnish tourism in this area. They moved to Xania years ago.....

When was the last time you met a Finn in Agios Nikolaos ? (apart from the ones that are residents)

This man is responsible for getting Greek (and other) tourists into Finland, not for getting Finnish tourists to come here.

And I bet he was enthralled to be told of the plans for electricity in Spinalonga. What a great way to spend your holiday.

And finally .............

Does even one day pass without our local newspaper carrying a picture of Kounenakis? Perhaps we could suggest a "Kounenakis free day" to ΑΝΑΤΟΛΗ? Or does the photographer just follow him around all day until he does something?

Website design

Jesus Christ!

The new website is going to be under the domain name http://www.dimosagn.gr/ ?????????????

Clue:

If you want people to find the site, use the old domain name of http://www.agiosnikolaos.gr/

And don't use Joomla. It is designed for blogs, not websites.

Who is running this town?

Or IS anybody actually running it?

XL and Kosmar

One of the largest collapses in the last few decades has left 85,000 people stranded and 200,000 people who have booked their holidays in advance with little or no hope of recovering their money. Whilst exercising a huge Public Relations initiative, TUI and Thomas Cook have seen their share value rise by up to 7%. Feigning concern, whilst utilising the opportunity to charge "ticket tout" prices for flights to the U.K, and capitalising on the misfortune of those affected to frighten people away from independent travel (in cooperation with the outdated ABTA, which is all but controlled by the large tour operators), they are acting in a disgraceful and unethical fashion.

The CAA is doing a sterling job and should be congratulated for their professionalism, which I experienced personally last night. But how did XL get away with selling unbonded flights via their website? Surely the implication of an ATOL protected carrier should have carried warnings regarding the lack of security for those booking direct, rather than via Freedom Flights?

Everyone in the travel industry knew that XL/Kosmar were going under 2 weeks ago. If TUI and Thomas Cook really cared (and my guess is they didn't), why were there no warnings? Simple. Like I said, have a look at their share prices.

Kosmar had only a few properties in Agios Nikolaos. Olympic Holidays might be the next company to go under, and if that happens, we will regret the lack of vision and forward planning at ΔΕΤΑΔΑΝ for many, many years. We have to plan for the future and research and develop new, richer, markets. Something that should have been done five years ago.

I spoke today with a bar owner who always has many returning customers in September. 50% of them have telephoned him to explain that their holiday has been cancelled because their flights were with XL.

It is almost too late now to save our tourism for 2009. When will somebody in authority listen and take some action? Most of the tourist apartments are up for sale, so are the bars and restaurants. Can no-one at the Dimos see what is happening?

Before it really is too late for the town.............

Missing link

Want to see a tour of Agios Nikolaos?

Click on http://www.iam-360.com/demo/TOURS/Ag-Nikolaos/index.htm link from www.aghiosnikolaos.gr and www.dimosagn.gr

Another fantastic piece of work by the amateurs who are responsible for our tourism .........

Wedding

Last night no-one could pass along Akti Koundourou near the Hermes Hotel. There was a wedding and the port police were watching as the guest's cars blocked both sides of the road.

No tickets were written on these cars - why!!!!??????

One law for some people, and another law for the others .....

One down .......

So, the first of the businesses (near Ammoudi) has gone under. How many more will follow?

Last night, apart from some very noisy tourists (who had obviously already drunk all of the beer in the all inclusive hotel) wandering around the town, it felt like October.

We might have one chance to save our tourism. Stop talking and take positive action.

The marketing plan for bringing good quality tourism to this area in 2009 should have been finalised and completed by now.

Never mind. At least we will have a new road going to the ΒΙΟΠΑ ............

We can all spend the summer driving up and down our fabulous new road next year ........

Because unless we get our priorities sorted out, we won't have anything else to do !!!!!!

Concert at Kitroplatia

What a fantastic concert by Methen Agan last night. Sadly, I missed the reunion concert by Argonavtes.

Kitroplatia was full of local people and tourists who all had a fantastic evening of entertainment. The restaurants and cafe bars were so busy they could not serve quickly enough. A lot of money was taken by the businesses in the area.

So why only once a year?

The mayor of Heraklion

Maybe next time our mayor mees the mayor of Heraklion, he couild ask him who built their website?

http://www.heraklion.gr/

good grief (continued)

And how many Greeks do you think will be working at the ΒΙΟΠΑ?

Very few, I am sure ..........

Good grief!

So the council are going to build a new road to the industrial park ......

Total cost 1,170,000 euros

For what?

What industry?

More door and window manufacturers?

Do they have any idea how much tourism marketing could be done with that much money??????

The road to Elounda

I know that the men in power all have nice cars, but maybe the mayor should be forced to ride a scooter from Havani a to Ammoudi.

The road is so bad that you have to ride in the centre of it. This is a really good way to get killed by the buses, taxis and impatient drivers who try to force you into the side of the road.

Perhaps they could do something about it before one of us, or one of the tourists, dies.

Summer season

So it is August.

The municipality are allowing OTE to dig the road up right next to Ammoudara beach. How is this helping our tourism?

Are they completely stupid?

The last meeting of the council before they have their summer holiday was another waste of time.

Still not one single person has taken any action to change the tourism plan for next year. We have to do it NOW!!!!!!

We do not have time to discuss, have meetings, form commitees and do nothing.

If nothing changes we will not need a "δακτυλιδι" next year. There will not be any tourists to worry about ..........

Rock "Concert"

The standard of the music at the so-called rock concert on Ammos beach was terrible.

The drummer was O.K but the overall effect was amateur and a disgrace to the town. Their copies of rock classics by Pink Floyd and Motorhead (!) were embarrasing and many tourists were seen leaving, laughing at this pathetic effort.

Is this really what we want to give to our tourists? A bunch of kids who can't play their instruments? I can only assume that one (or all) of them is related to someone at the Demos

It really is very embarrasing when you compare it to a 13 year old boy in a tourist town in the U.K

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7532050.stm

Now that is what you call a rock guitarist !!!!!!!!!!!

Special needs

Oh, the poor people. Are they sick? or disabled?

According to the argument against the ring, the visitors from Heraklion and the local residents of Agios Nikoalos find it "too difficult" to walk from a car park to a restaurant or cafe.

How far?

200m?

500m?

They call it inconvenient.

I call it LAZY!

This is pathetic. Stop blaming the ring for the terrible season. Blame the people who are really responsible ....

The ones who have allowed all inclusive hotels to dominate the tourism in the town.

Search for the real problem and you may find the solution before next year.

Ghost Town

01.00 Thursday 24/07/08 - Harbour area - Agios Nikolaos

Tourist bar 1: 10 tourists

01.30

Tourist Bar 2: 15 tourists

02.00

Tourist Bar 3: 0 tourists

I know it is a little late for the older ones who "control" things, and they are probably in bed.

JUst thought they should know!

The lord of the rings

Some people, including regular commentator Mr Vasilakis, do not agree with the implementation of the ring.

Why?

It is not the ring that is a disaster.

Our lack of co-ordinated tourism marketing, taxi drivers trying to kill our visitors whilst crossing the road(yes, I saw that on the bridge today!) and not having a professional in charge of DETADAN is the real disaster.

There are no tourists. Ring or no ring.

So it doesn't really make much difference at all, does it? But as usual there are always people who want to blame the wrong thing instead of fixing the real problem.

That, I am afraid, is a much bigger issue than any inconvenience caused by the ring. I would be a lot happier if the criticism of the mayor was directed at the lack of planning for the future, rather than a short term inability to walk a few steps instead of driving your cars around all night, polluting the atmosphere, not only with emissions and smoke but also with noise.

Seriously, it is a better place to live with the ring in place. Ask the tourists ............ if we ever get any.

Parking

So we have a 100 place free car park behind the old "Enosis". There are no signs to the parking except for one which is so close that you have already passed the turning before you see it.

Today, apart from the OTE cable reels it was almost empty.

Why not put a sign before the EKO station - "Free parking - 200 metres"?

.... and some signs to tell visitors how to find the town from there would be a good move too.

Finished?

Believing that it was "finished" I went to Epimenidou today.

Does "finished" have a different meaning in Greek?

It doesn't look "finished" to me !

The Ring

How peaceful the centre of town was last evening. It was a pleasure to walk along the street Roussou Kondourou and to cross from one side to the other without risking my life. No scooters and noisy bikes or kids shouting "malaka" at each other or cars making a volta (what happened to the volta we used to have? The one where everybody walked and talked to each other?)

And still there are people who think it is a bad thing!

When you live in a busy city and you go on holiday you want to relax and have a little peace.

That is why Naxos and Mykonos have high spending tourists and we don't.

If we keep the ring (all season, not just in August) we can show the world that we care about our visitors.

And then we might actually get some!!!!!!

REasons to be cheerful - part 3

Inclement weather and budgetary awareness are driving Brits to book holidays at the eleventh hour, according to online travel agent Lastminute.com The website says the rise in costs and the credit crunch has prompted Brits to wait and see if they could really afford a holiday but now the classic British summer has shown its colours they are booking in droves. The site reports an increase in its week-on-week trading with traffic of unique visitors searching holidays up 23% over the last week, as the weather declined. Most searched departure dates were July 19 and 26 and August 2. It says that European destinations are suffering as Brits look to make their pound stretch further and avoid the costly euro with Turkey and Egypt performing particularly well – both up 14% year-on-year. Bookings to Tunisia are up 95% and Croatia an impressive 150%. Those looking to stay in the UK on holiday are showing signs of taking a couple of shorter breaks rather than one two-week long holiday. Lastminute says coastal areas are doing a roaring trade, with bookings to Brighton hotels up 70% year on year, Bournemouth 20% and Eastbourne 66%. It also reports stronger sales for UK theme parks, attractions, theatre and concert tickets. Breaks including these have gone up 18% year-on-year. Lastminute.com managing director John Bevan said: “This summer our customers are going where their pound will take them further and where good bargains are to be had. We are seeing a strong interest in destinations outside the Euro, whether these are short or long haul. We are also noticing that Britons are trying to find ways to cut corners by spreading short breaks throughout the summer as well as throughout the year but also by finding cheaper ways to have a good time at home or abroad.”

Των καιρικών συνθηκών και των δημοσιονομικών ευαισθητοποίησης είναι κινητήρια Brits to book διακοπές κατά την ενδεκάτη ώρα, σύμφωνα με την online ταξιδιωτικό πράκτορα Lastminute.com Η ιστοσελίδα λέει η άνοδος του κόστους και του πιστωτικού κρίσιμη στιγμή έχει ζητηθεί Brits να περιμένουμε και να δούμε εάν μπορούν να προσφέρουν πραγματικά τις διακοπές, αλλά τώρα το κλασικό βρετανικό καλοκαίρι έδειξε τις χρωστικές αυτές τις κρατήσεις στην droves. Η ιστοσελίδα εκθέσεις για την αύξηση του εβδομάδα-εβδομάδα για διαπραγμάτευση με την κυκλοφορία των μοναδικών επισκεπτών που αναζητούν διακοπές μέχρι 23% κατά την τελευταία εβδομάδα, καθώς οι καιρικές μειώθηκε. Οι περισσότεροι έψαξαν τις ημερομηνίες αναχώρησης ήταν Ιουλ 19 και 26 και τον Αύγουστο 2. Αναφέρει ότι η ταλαιπωρία των ευρωπαϊκών προορισμών, όπως Brits δούμε να κάνει τους λίρας τεντώνονται και να αποφευχθεί η περαιτέρω δαπανηρή ευρώ με την Τουρκία και την Αίγυπτο που εκτελούν ιδιαίτερα καλά - και οι δύο μέχρι 14% από έτος σε έτος. Κρατήσεις στην Τυνησία είναι μέχρι 95% και η Κροατία ένα εντυπωσιακό 150%. Εκείνοι ψάχνουν να παραμείνουν στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο για διακοπές παρουσιάζουν συμπτώματα της λήψη ηλικίας μικρότερης των διαλειμμάτων και όχι ένας, δύο εβδομάδες καιρό διακοπών. Lastminute λέει παράκτιες περιοχές είναι εμπορικές roaring κάνει, με κρατήσεις σε ξενοδοχεία Brighton μέχρι 70% από έτος σε έτος, Bournemouth Eastbourne 20% και 66%. Αναφέρεται επίσης ισχυρότερες πωλήσεις του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου για θεματικά πάρκα, θεάματα, θέατρο και εισιτήρια συναυλιών. Διακοπές συμπεριλαμβανομένων αυτών έχουν αυξηθεί κατά 18% από έτος σε έτος. Lastminute.com διευθύνων John Bevan είπε: "Αυτό το καλοκαίρι οι πελάτες μας, όπου θα τους λίρας θα λάβουν επιπλέον και καλές ευκαιρίες, όπου πρόκειται να είχε. Βλέπουμε ένα ισχυρό ενδιαφέρον για προορισμούς εκτός του ευρώ, αν αυτά είναι βραχυπρόθεσμα ή μακροπρόθεσμα. Είμαστε, επίσης, διαπιστώνουν ότι οι Βρετανοί προσπαθούν να βρουν τρόπους για να εξοικονομούν με την εξάπλωση σύντομα διαλείμματα κατά τη θερινή περίοδο καθώς και όλο το χρόνο αλλά και με την εξεύρεση τρόπων φθηνότερο να έχουμε μια καλή στιγμή στο σπίτι ή στο εξωτερικό. "

Olive oil

"A Greek olive oil has won first prize in the medium green fruitiness section of the Mario Solinas IOC Quality awards for extra virgin olive oil in 2008, according to the results announced by the International Olive Council based in Madrid. This is the second consecutive year that the prize has gone to an olive oil produced in Greece. The award was presented to the 'Agricultural Cooperatives of Kritsa' from Lasithi, Crete during a special ceremony held on Thursday"

So within 10km of the town we have the best olive oil IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!

If that was in Spain or Italy the newspapers would be full of press releases to tell the world how great their oil is.

Who is in charge of press releases for Agios Nikolaos?

Speed ramps

Now here is a thought. Cheap and totally effective. Requires no policing, and can be implemented in a few hours. The website link http://www.signplas.co.uk/road_speed_ramps.htm has a shopping cart for the demos to use.

If we put speed ramps down, (it can be done overnight!) around Kitroplatia we would probably not need the ring at all. If most of the drivers could only travel at 10km/hour the volta would stop.

Of course they would have to go right across the road to stop the motorcycles and scooters.

That way people would still be able to get to the restaurants and bars

But slowly!

Local newspaper - comments

Interesting reading in the local papaer that there is a 100 place (free!) car park that no one uses. Amazing that people in the town will pay 500.00 euros for membership of a gym but cannot walk 400 metres from their car to go to a cafe. Perhaps some BIG signs to tell visitors entering the town and some marked parking places would make it more useful. I didn't even know it was there until I read the newspaper.

The tour guide who said that the prices were high in Agios Nikolaos is entitled to his opinion. It is a free country and a democratic one. What madness to try to find a policeman to be a witness and sue for defamation. It might have been a better idea to take the licence number of the bus and the name of the company that employed the guide. A word in the ear of the owner might make more difference. At least this highlights the fact that we need to re-market the town.

Why are we wasting our time and money on the "IRIS"? Who is interested in organic dyes for clothing. How many visitors does it get? Not a lot, you can bet. Another waste of time and money. It was closed for 2 years and no-one even noticed.

Bravo for the suggestion that we should make more of the (tenuous) connection with Nearchos. The plaque at the entrance to the marina is written in (ancient) Greek. A translation nearby in a few other languages might assist our visitors to see the connection with the great admiral.

Only in this town

Only here could someone have the idea of re-surfacing the road at the "fanaria" in the middle of July.

Why???????

They have had the whole year to do it.

Do they get some twisted satisfaction out of doing things at the worst possible time?

What a fantastic welcome to the town that was for visitors. Angry drivers, policemen everywhere, traffic gridlocked. Not even the scooters could move.

Who makes these decisions?

The ring has started?

So our blogger Mr Vasilakis thinks the ring has already started!

The reason there is no one on the streets is that no one has any money

If the tourists don't come the, waiters, bar owners and shopkeepers have no money and they cannot give money to their children to put petrol into their cars and "papakias" to drive around all night.

I was in the town last night too. Talking to a restaurant owner who cannot afford to pay his staff.

Maybe the politicians should stop scoring political points and realise that they have to work together for the good of the town.

It is a little too late for this season now. But we could be taking action to stop it from being even worse next year. If we don't do something right now we won't have a tourism industry at all.

Speeding and policing

Several "professionals" have spoken to me about the closure of the harbour/kitroplateia area in the last days.

One said we need more police. We have enough for a town this size.

We don't need more police. We need the police that we do have to stop the things that are wrong in the town.

You can often find 4 or 6 of them waiting at the "fanaria" to give tickets to someone driving at 51km/hour.

Where are they when motor bikes, cars and taxis are driving in the centre of the town at dangerous speeds? I saw a taxi last night driving down Akti Koundourou travelling at 80km/hour past the hotels (Coral/Hermes). Motor bikes do this on a regular basis and never seem to get a ticket.

One day someone will die because of this. It might be a small child or a tourist (or both!)

Which one of these is the most serious crime?

Taxi drivers are not above the law, even if they think they are. At least you can say that they have a reason to be "running". The others are just inconsiderate idiots who damage the quality of life for both residents and visitors.

We could start by giving tickets to all the people without number plates. There IS a reason why they do this. And it IS always illegal.

Football

So the traders on Roussou Koundourou plan to play football in the streeet to show their disapproval of the new measures.

Grow up and stop behaving like small children.

The single biggest complaint by tourists who visit Agios Nikolaos is the noise from the constant "volta" by scooters, cars and motor cycles.

This measure will bring more visitors to your shops, not less.....

The shops should be asking for it to apply from April to October instead of this half hearted effort for 6 weeks in July and August. The majority of visitiors are low spending French and Itaklian and they don't care if it is noisy as long as it is cheap.

The British, Germans and Scandinavians (the ones with the money!) care a lot about the traffic noise.

You don't see many in the town these days do you?

Just a thought...

Brilliant!!!!!!!! Fantastic !!!!!!!!!

The "ring" will be starting soon. The plans to close the harbour area and kitroplatia from traffic in the evening have been approved.

Excellent idea from the Demos. Bravo a thousand times.

One question..........

When we close the town from 19.00 and only residents are allowed into the harbour area...

What about the tourists with hire cars who are staying at Sgouros, Pallazzo, Delta, 9 Muses, and all the other apartments and pensions in the "exclusion zone"?????????? What if they come back from a trip to Rethymnon at 20.00? Will they get through... or not?

Maybe we should think that one through?

Nautical week

Nautical week begins tonight. Another fantastic piece of planning by the Demos has the opening event on the lake at the same time as....

The final of the European Championship football competition (Spain v Germany)

I know which one I, (and most of the men in the town), will be watching.

And...

Can anyone explain to me what a demonstration of Tai Kwon Do, or a childrens production of Pinokio, or a Cretan night in Kritsa has to do with "Nautical Week"?

Public Toilets

Well said on blog.vasilakism.gr regarding the provision of public toilets. Why should the bars have to provide toilets for visitors?

NIMBY

There is an acronym in English, "NIMBY". It means "Not in my back yard". If it affects you personally you do not want it to happen but you really don't care if it affects the rest of society.

The debate over the traffic control has this problem.

The restaurants don't want the noise but do want the customers. If many of the local people cannot park outside a restaurant they will not use it.

Those who work in offices don't want it at all. When they are late for work they can blame the circulation (or lack of it!)

This really is not so difficult.

Stop the illegal parking by using wheel clamps. Then we wouldn't need "the ring"

Holocaust

The victims of the 1943 holocaust in the villages around Ano Viannos deserve better than the "C" class website at www.holocaust-lasithi.eu

23,000 euros from the European Union ?

It wasn't spent on that website. That is for sure. It could have been built for a few hundred euros.

So what was the money spent on?

Heraklion Museum

The museum in Heraklion is closed until 2010 (or maybe longer). How long can this take? This houses many of the artefacts that visitors travel across the world to see.

It should be given priority, above all else, in Heraklion.

There was no delay in building the (completely useless, and now unused) football stadium, was there?

Is football more important than heritage?

I think not!

Last night ...

I met a friend from England who visits the town at least 3 - 4 times every year. I noticed that he had an all-inclusive bracelet on his arm. It was the only accommodation he could find in Agios Nikolaos from a travel agent in the U.K.

He doesn't like it.

He doesn't want it.

But that was the only option.

If you want the town full of low income tourism, go ahead. Keep encouraging all-inclusive. But don't complain when the shops all close. Don't complain when there are no restaurants. And don't complain when your children have no work in the coming years to support you, or the town.

My Greek friend who owns a shop said that it is the worst season he has ever had. His young son had just come from the frontisterio.

Let us hope that his father can still pay for his lessons next year.

Bus stops and parking

Bravo to Είναι να μην σ' ενοχλεί; for showing the chaos caused by the buses stopping outside the Hermes and Coral. The employees of the hotels are very quick to stop anyone parking in these places but the buses do not even use them.

The car hire companies using the public parking to store their hire cars makes it impossible for local residents to find a parking place in the summer. The car hire companies all have garages. Why don't they use them instead of blocking the small amount of parking that is available in the town centre?

And another thing. Why not issue parking permits to local residents? We have already paid to build and maintain these car parks. We should be able to use them.

Kathemerini - editorial

"The proper response to the drop in the number of tourists arriving in Greece due to the higher euro is not to start making cuts.
The right thing to do would be to strengthen the competitiveness of our tourism product. This can only happen if we improve the quality that we provide to the people visiting our country.
Once upon a time, Greece’s comparative advantage was the sun and sea. Today, this is not enough. Lots of countries around us can offer the same thing – and at lower prices.
Our comparative advantage must now be the prospect of offering visitors better service than they would get elsewhere.
Everyone involved in this industry, which is the driving force of the Greek economy, has to love what they are doing.
They must understand that there are many people in the world who would gladly pay high prices if they could be guaranteed top-quality service.
They want to feel that their money has not been wasted and that they got what they paid for."

Nice to know that it is not only me that feels this way ........ The editor of Kathemerini obviously feels the same.

Anyone want to join us?

Palikaria

It is not in the spirit of the Cretan people to give in or accept defeat.

Why then am I hearing so many people saying that there is no future for tourism in Agios Nikolaos.

There is.

But like the Palikaria, we are going to have to fight for it.

Our clean town

Out early this morning, I could not help but notice how clean teh town was. Since the private contractors came in the place is wnderfully clean.

Bravo the Demos.

Politeness

I stopped today to allow some tourists to cross the road. Four young local boys went straight past and nearly knocked the tourists (who thought they were safe to cross) over.

This is just plain wrong.

Tourists are not an inconvenience

We have to learn.

Busy doing nothing

From ANATOLH

"The Business Program will be posted on the official website of the municipality but may also be a public consultation on the tabling of views and proposals from local authorities and legal persons of the municipality. All these will be collected and the committee which has been entrusted with the drafting of the Operational Program will incorporate and will return for final approval by the City Council until July 31 to submit then in the Region of Crete."

Which, roughly translated, means that we are going to have a lot of talking, some more committees and in the end nothing will be done to solve our immediate problems.

I can't wait to see this bit:

* Modernisation and upgrading of the tourism product - touristic infrastructure and local identity.

Should be interesting............

How about adding this one

* No all-inclusive hotels allowed within a 3km radius of the city centre.

Now that really would make a difference to the local economy. Ask the restaurant and bar owners how good their season has been so far. The other day, most of them were empty at 21.00.

The "bracelets" were all in the hotels drinking all inclusive wine and eating all inclusive food.

And don't think the French and Italians are coming, as usual, in large numbers in July and August. They're not making reservations.

Unless they are going to an all inclusive hotel, of course.

Hot,hot,hot

Everyone I meet says the same thing. "It is so hot!"

Don't worry. There is no Global Warming (honestly, the oil companies told me so, and they never lie, the same way politicians never lie).

Let's just hope that the swimming pools in all these new villas don't use all our water.

ASTEAN

48 new graduates! We say "Congratulations" and then "Goodbye".

Maybe we should give some of them a job here in the town?

Did you know that Greece produces more marketing graduates than any other country in Europe?

Unfortunately they all work in the U.S.A, U.K, Germany........

Που εισαι κ. Βασιλακις ?

I sometimes get the feeling that I am writing the blog for Michaelis Vasilakis.

Come on Michaeli, you have to do some blog writing too!

The "real" cost of parking in Elounda

Yesterday evening we went out for a meal. A celebration meal. One of the restaurants in Elounda has been modernised and we went to see if the food was as nice as the decoration.

I parked outside at 19.45 ( yes 19.45!) and almost before we had closed the car door two (!) people leaped out and told us that we would have to pay 3 euros to park there.

There was no-one in the restaurant (or in Elounda, actually), except the staff. I had 200 euros in my wallet to pay for an expensive meal.

I did what many people would do. I got back into the car, parked (free of charge) in Agios Nikolaos and spent my 200 euros in a restaurant there.

I am sure the owner of the restaurant in Elounda will be pleased to hear this story. I genuinely admire the way he has improved his restaurant but, as a matter of principle, I cannot see why I should pay an extra 3 euros to eat there.

Elounda has lost many of the tour companies that provided customers for the tavernas, restaurants and bars. It needs all the help it can get. Charging people to park there is not the way to do it.

The restaurants are expensive enough and a 10% gratuity for the waiter in addition to the 2% "tourist tax", 8% Φ.Π.Α (19% on the wine!), a cover charge for a piece of bread, etc. makes a meal an expensive luxury.

Now tell me why the restaurants are complaining that they have no customers. 3 euros may not be a lot of money to the Demos, or to me, but it is a "stealth tax" on tourists. A visit to the harbour for lunch and dinner would add 84 euros to a 14 day holiday.

Yet another brilliantly devised plan to persuade the few tourists that are still coming here to go to Egypt, Croatia or Turkey next year.

Greek Football Shirts

Have you noticed how, for the last few days, the only people wearing Greek national football team shirts are non-Greek tourists?

Strange........

When does the tourist season start?

Why is this still not finished? It is the middle of June !!!!!!!!!!!!

(almost) anywhere else in the world the civil engineer or town planner responsible would not have a job anymore.

Too many excuses - as usual.

When do the Demos think that the tourist season starts? August maybe, or perhaps October???????????

Competition

Have a look at this.......

http://www.casa-vitae.gr/content/view/14/37/lang,en/

or in Greek

http://www.casa-vitae.gr/content/view/14/37/lang,el/

And have a look at the prices.

Question: Where would you stay? In Rethymnon, or here? Find me one apartment in the central area of Agios Nikolaos that is of this standard.

This is the standard of apartments and small hotels in other parts of the island. The Hotels and apartments need to spend some money and get the accommodation up to this standard and we will also have the rich tourists. Not everyone wants to stay in the Elounda Beach (not even the Russians!)

For many years the hotels and apartments have been paid very little by large tour operators to provide basic accommodation for cheap tourism. They have not had any money to re-invest. The banks, the Demos and the Nomarxeio should be supporting these people and giving improvement grants.

Look at the "Panorama" on the harbour. Fantastic location and left to rot by the (Athenian?)owners. It is a disgrace that this hotel is not open. Look also at the "lakeside" hotel next to Du Lac. Falling to pieces and a disgrace to our city. It appears on every photograph of the lake area and it cannot be beyond the Demos to at least force the owners to, at least, paint it. What are we thinking?

The 18-30's will never come back to Agios Nikolaos. Forget them. The market has changed.

If Rethymnon and Xania can see that, why can't we?

Beautiful Sunday

What a beautiful day it was today. A little too much wind perhaps, but sitting by the lake with a cold beer and swimming at Ammoudara was a pleasure.

Good to hear that some of the better restaurants are doing well with Rusian and French customers. Lobster and Champagne!

Excellent news.......

And good to hear that we have a new Italian Restaurant opening in the town (9 muses). With the addition of "Gold" which is a fantastic improvement on the old "Rose" and the "Mare & Monte", the standard of restaurants is just getting better and better every year. Even the mezedes have improved in variety and choice.

If only everyone knew how good it is here now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps we could do some marketing and tell them? If these fantastic restaurants don't have enough customers we will lose them and that would be a great loss for everyone.

Selling the City

I have no idea who is selling the city (apart from the real estate agents!) but I think we should be told.

I went to a "Holiday Exhibition" in Helsinki, Finland a few years ago and when I tried to get information about Agios Nikolaos, I was told that the municipality had supplied only 100 information leaflets to an exhibition which attracted 250,000 visitors. The "representative" spoke only Greek and could not communicate with the Finnish people who wanted to visit our town. I am sure he enjoyed his holiday in Helsinki as much as the "representatives" that we are sending out this year are enjoying their holidays.

Interestingly, Rhodos had a huge exhibition with live music and dancers. Xania also had a large prescence.

Do we get statistics for the success of these "trade exhibitions"? How many visitors do we get as a result of sending these people for a 3 day, all expenses paid trip to St. Petersburg, or Frankfurt, Or Beijing?????

I don't know what you think, but I am not seeing many Chinese tourists at the moment.

Or indeed many tourists at all.

If you want to sell to the Germans, French, Italians or the British, you have to do it in their language and have someone who can communicate effectively with them.

Many foreign residents have offered to go (unpaid) to these events in their own countries to assist in bringing visitors to the area. The Municipality have never accepted their help. Perhaps they are worried that if non-employees of the Demos went along, they would see how little work actually gets done. And that would ruin their holiday, wouldn't it?

Translation

Thanks to Michaelis Vasilakis for featuring the blog on http://blog.vasilakism.gr . He has offered to translate into Greek for the benefit of those who do not understand English.

Translation is an interesting area. When we print our information books for the municipality, why not ask a British/German/French resident to read it before it goes to the printer? God knows there are enough native speakers in the area who would be happy to do it without asking for payment.

The "English" on the (2004) website is terrible. I can only assume that the same applies to other languages.

We have a Foreign Residents Committee (I.N.C.O) http://www.inconews.com/ . If they spent more time helping with translations and less time pretending to be actors, or folk dancing and singing, perhaps they would be of more use to the city and have a little more respect from the citizens...............

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.

Vince Lombardi US football coach (1913 - 1970)

This is good....... but:

Congratulations to the Demos for getting the town clean at last. If we can just stop using plastic bags for everything, we might just be able to use it in our new marketing campaign to persuade the tourists to come back to the area.

The new sunbeds and umbrellas are also excellent and Detadan have done a good job in theming each beach with a different colour.

But:

The new brochures for the town, however, were a disaster area. Businesses were given just 6 days to get their copy into the printer (another political appointment, perhaps?). Why are we printing these information leaflets when the season is half finished? When will they understand that the planning for the summer must be done in the winter? We are never ready when the tourists arrive and they do come at the same time every year (for now....). Why is it always treated as such a suprise by the traders, hotels and the Demos?

Too much talking and forming commitees and not enough action. The world is moving at a faster pace since the internet arrived. Wake up! We cannot continue to operate the way we did in the 1970's.

Park & Ride

Idea:

Make a big car park by the "fanaria" on the National Road.

Have a mini-bus taking people from the car park to the town and back to the car park.

How many people drive through, but do not stop in Agios Nikolaos because they cannot find a parking place?


Many, many thousands!!!!!!!!!!

This solution would reduce the amount of circulation in the town centre and would enable the visitors to spend some money instead of getting out as quickly as possible.

Volta

Why are the children (of all ages!) allowed to change their motor cycles to make so much noise? The bars have to close their doors at 23.00 or the police write a ticket. Idiots making "kamikaze" past restaurants, which could kill small children if they lose control, continue with their madness and not one of us stop them from doing it or report it to the police.

These "modified" motor bikes make more noise than any of the bars and are allowed to drive at dangerous speeds all day and all night in the centre. The continual "volta" around Kitroplateia and the harbour is noisy and irritating, not only to our guests in the town but to the residents and business owners too.

Why not stop the volta after 20.00?

Where are the police and why are they doing nothing about this huge problem? Does no-one realise how much this damages our tourism?

E.O.T ? or not?

How many foreigners are renting out their homes to tourists? Across Europe, it cost the U.K tourism industry 4,ooo,ooo,oooo euros last year in lost sales.

These new villas keep going up and every one is a potential threat to the tourism industry in Agios Nikolaos, Kalo Xorio and Elounda.

How many have E.O.T certificates?

Who is checking the papers and stopping illegal rentals?

Not the real estate offices for certain.

Another Blog

We have the comments of Vasilakis on the right and the Demos (Klontzas?, Kounenakis?) on the left.......

The only thing they have in common is that none of them are solving the problems. Petty politics and personal swipes at political opponents are not what is needed right now.

The bars and restaurants are empty

The "bracelets" are everywhere

The road outside Xalkiadakis looks like central Baghdad

Our city website is a joke, with information last updated in 2004. Take a look at how Rethymnon and Xania do it

We have information only in Japanese and Greek at the Tourist information office and one of the staff can't answer any questions

The Nomarxeio have no information because they have no money

The new syllogos for bars and restaurants thinks that more interference and control by the police and port police will help!!!!!!!!!!

There is still no co-ordinated marketing for the city and all the Mayor can do is have another meeting and get another photograph of himself "being important" in Anatoli newspaper.

What are we going to do.? WE (all of us) have to stop talking and complaining and do something positive. Right now, before we have no tourism left at all.