PAROS, Greece — Joanna Roboras started to renovate her hotel on a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea last October, the traditional time to begin repairs and maintenance after beach season.
The work at her hotel, the Kallisti Paros, went beyond whitewashing walls and repainting the gray shutters. With the island of Paros showing up on travel magazine “best” lists, the property was well placed for an upgrade. Its in the village of Naoussa, where boutiques and cocktail lounges sit alongside humble fishermens houses to form a backdrop for Instagrammers whove been there, done that on Mykonos and Santorini.
Roboras restyled her 16-unit bed and breakfast into 11 larger rooms and suites, pitching for a higher price point, with custom furniture and décor drawing on local heritage and folklore. She stripped the cement off her pool deck to uncover elegant flagstones of marble, the stone for which the island has been renowned since antiquity.
All over Greece, the hospitality industry was enjoying a rebound from the financial crisis. The country had drawn record visitor numbers for each of the past few years and predicted more for 2020. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, elected a year ago, made higher-end tourism a pillar of his economic strategy.
The coronavirus has set all that back.
Some other hotels on Paros have shuttered entirely for the year. Restaurants and bars are missing out even more, as locals and owners of holiday homes spend evenings in to avoid contagion.
For an economy thats one-fifth based on seasonal visitors, COVID-19 is, to borrow the Greek term, a catastrophe. In 2020, the country faces a downturn in line with the worst year of its debt crisis last decade, and the biggest decline among all EU countries.
Thats despite a lighter impact from the pandemic in medical terms compared with fellow tourist destinations with more diversified economies like Italy and France.
Partial opening
Greece opened in June to European tourists — while managing its viral exposure by keeping out visitors from hot spots such as the U.S. (at least officially).
But a partial opening doesnt just put a dent in revenue for small hospitality operators like Roboras. Apart from the unlucky timing of her investment, businesses have to pay more, and hustle more, to catch what euros are coming in this year.
Over the winter and spring, the Kallistis deliveries of tiles, bathtubs and other materials were held up as the outbreak locked down manufacturing and transport, Roboras said in late July during a break in her preparations. When builders and tradesmen were available, they had to be choreographed at the site on separate days. Every step added costs and paperwork.
Hoteliers also had to complete mandatory seminars on health protocols and arrange a doctor on call, all at a cost.
Roboras trimmed her summer staff from 11 to five and put off some of her capital projects, like an outdoor bar area, to the coming winter.
“You can imagine how this hits the economy,” she said.
At least the Kallisti could open — albeit two months behind schedule — on August 5 and get in some guests at a discounted rate. Roboras has until October to recoup a portion of her costs, never mind covering them. Thats if a new rise in infections around Europe doesnt shut down travel once again.
Some other hotels on Paros have shuttered entirely for the year. Restaurants and bars are missing out even more, as locals and owners of holiday homes spend evenings in to avoid contagion.
Dead calm
All this gave the island a tranquil air during the usual bustle of late July — great for the 12,000 locals and the lucky souls able to make it there, as I came to appreciate when my wife Elizabeth and I had our pick of empty beaches and restaurant tables.
Paros has all the charms of the Cycladic islands: an array of sandy and rocky shorelines, stone houses and domed churches, calm bays and windsurfing spots, mountain villages and cosmopolitan towns, refined dining and tavernas cooking produce from their own gardens.
As an exception to the quiet, some shops and hotels were hammering and sawing away at projects that would usually be barred during tourist season. Restrictions were relaxed this year for businesses making up for lost prep time.
“It feels like its May and were all waiting for our season to start,” Roboras said. “Everybodys in the same boat. The more I think about it, the more I stress about it.”
Mina Agnos, presidentRead More – Source
