Sun still shining for Irish tourists in Greece

Ann Knox will never forget the 12 days she spent in Greece in July 2015. Not because the banks closed, the economy went into freefall and the country was on the brink of crashing out of the euro zone.

"Didn't bother us at all," says the carer from Lurgan, Co Armagh. The trip was memorable because it was her first holiday outside Ireland. "I hadn't got the courage before. Like they say, life starts in your 40s. Well I'm in my 40s. I just says, right, now's the time. I wanted to see what people were talking about."

Like many foreign visitors to the Greek islands this week, the crisis scarcely impinged on Knox’s holiday in Zakinthos.

“They were saying bits and pieces about what would happen with the euro and what have you, but we just took it in our stride,” she says at Athens airport as she waits for a flight to Dublin.

The only piece of contingency planning for most visitors' is to bring plenty of cash, says Patrick Tuite from Co Meath.

He and his wife Jill, travelling with their three children, brought a few thousand euro with them, and they felt so anxious about it that they slept with the notes under the pillow in their Athens hotel.

Tuite was aware of Greeks’ concerns and noticed the hotel bar staff were especially keen on cash payments, but he wouldn’t for a minute discourage people from coming, he says.

“I was getting texts from back home. People were anxious to know what it’s like. I just texted them back and said: the beer is nice and cold.”

As she watched the news in recent days, Diane Dawson from Cootehill in Co Cavan waited for a call to say the wedding she and her husband Damien Sherlock were due to attend in Santorini this weekend had been cancelled.

“We emailed our hotel and they told us it was fine. They said they would prefer cash if we could, but that was it,” says Damien, just off a flight from Ireland.

He is best man for his friend Ciarán McBreen, who tells him everything is under control.

“He says it’s sorted. He didn’t let on, but I think he was worried.”

Greek banks have been closed since last week and daily ATM withdrawals from domestic accounts have been limited to €60.

Although the restrictions do not apply to foreign bank account-holders, the Department of Foreign Affairs has urged those travelling to Greece to bring adequate cash.

In an update to its travel advice, the department said banking services, including credit card processing and ATMs, could become limited at short notice. It also noted reports of shortages of some essential supplies, including medical supplies, and advised tourists to bring any prescription drugs they might need.

It is understood the Irish embassy in Athens has so far not been called on to provide assistance to any Irish citizens due to problems arising from the credit controls.

For their part, Irish travel agents have not reported significant numbers of customers forfeiting their money by cancelling pre-booked holidays.

In Greece this week, some visitors say they have been struck by a contrast between images in the media and what they have seen on the ground. Ian McDonnell, who works in IT in Dublin and spent the past two days visiting a supplier in Athens, says he found people calm.

“The only thing you notice is queues at ATMs, but they’re not as long as the ones on TV. The average queue is about five or six people,” he says. “I think they selectively choose the long ones for TV. They choose the ones with the tired-looking people.”

It reminds him of the reaction to a famous photograph of the man from the IMF, Ajai Chopra, walking past a homeless man in Dublin just as Ireland was about to seek a bailout in 2010. “Friends of mine overseas were saying, ‘Oh my God, everyone’s begging in Dublin’,” McDonnell says.

“Dublin was no different to usual.

“Journalists need drama. Certainly there’s a crisis and it’s dangerous but people here are quite calm about it.”

Una, a Cork woman who has been living in Greece for more than 30 years, has a different perspective. “You have no idea what it’s like when you’re not living here,” she says as she and her husband Nico wait to board a flight for their holiday in Ireland. “A friend of our daughter’s, who is a nursery school teacher, she says for months now they have children fainting at school for lack of food. The suicide rate has gone up and stayed up. If you’re not living here, you have no idea how bad it is.”

The couple run a shop that sells horse-riding equipment, but business has been “dead” for the past two weeks, Una says. Fearing credit controls would be introduced, they withdrew a large sum from the bank a few weeks ago and have been using that to pay their five staff. So far they have managed it, but the money will soon run out.

“One of the women (on staff) started with us when she was 18. She’s nearly 40 now. The day her second child was born three years ago, her husband lost his job. He hasn’t found another job, so she’s supporting the family. I mean, you can’t say to her ‘we haven’t got it this month’. What’s she going to do?”