I'm on a crowded bus, homeward-bound in Corfu. Seventy-five people on a 52-seater, mainly tourists. Dutch, German, British, a lot of Russians. One could be forgiven for thinking the Greek tourist industry is thriving. But most of them are on day-release from their pre-paid resort hotels, which discourage their inmates from any local expenditure.
An elderly Greek is talking (in English of course) with a 14-year-old Norwegian – yes, Ryanair flies Corfu-Oslo. Their conversation ranges from ecology to economy, from geopolitics to Norwegian social policy. The boy's knowledge, and fluency in English, are remarkable. The bus reaches the resort hotel, and he and his family descend.
Maybe we shouldn’t look down on the resort hotel. Many holidaymakers want a trouble- free break where everything is provided, decisions can be delayed until return to the “real world” and one might as well be in Spain or Italy.
Those who show initiative and make a break for the perimeter fence are definitely in the minority. My Yorkshire neighbour on the bus says this day in town was his only day outside the compound. It was his wife’s decision, to “see the sights”. He himself would have been happy to spend all 14 days snugly on the beach and the pitch-and-putt course, showing no interest whatever in local customs, foodstuffs or scenery.
Pre-packaged
The Russians are pre-packaged in Moscow, the British start and finish in Luton. Where the Germans come from, no one seems to care. Everything between the start (Moscow/ Luton) and the finish is just “foreign”, “over there”. There is no need to encounter nasty, unfamiliar foods or beverages.
The package is sanitised and, I have to admit, the meals I have tried are substantial, well- cooked and marginally oriented towards Greek cuisine.
Inclusiveness
But when a resort hotel manager says, with satisfaction, that he serves 750 processed meals at each sitting, one has to wonder at the minds that can sign up unquestioningly for an inclusive fortnight. The process is a conveyor belt that inserts relaxation into the clientele – a factory ship ashore.
Cruise ships are another growing phenomenon that boosts the statistics but brings very little cash into the local economy. Early in the morning they unload their cargo, which is herded back aboard at teatime. In the interim, so- called guides shepherd them around town, imparting almost zero information and depositing them at pre-arranged gift shops, where they get commission on souvenirs made mostly in Taiwan. Almost nothing is spent in the local tavernas.
It isn't only the resort hotels and cruise ships that breed mindlessness. (Remember the film If It's Tuesday This Must Be Belgium?) Each morning as I go to buy bread, a flotilla of low-flying quad bikes or Jeeps passes by (as many as 16 of them in high season), emblazoned with the word "Safari", on their way up the mountain to a deserted village which has become a cult venue. They have a soft drink and a snack before returning to base.
God-knows-where
No interest is shown in the village itself, whose way of life is still visible in the architecture, the layout of houses and churches (11 of them!). It’s just a day out to god-knows-where.
In the afternoon, sitting on the terrace of the kafeneion, I see the next batch of Jeeps. At least it gives us something to count. “Ten this morning.” “Fifteen at lunchtime.”
In the winter, nothing.
Many tourists this year will have been lured by the current promotion of Greece's "Gods, Myths and Heroes". This is singularly ironic, given that the gods seem to have abandoned Greece, there is a severe dearth of heroes, and we are up to our oxters in the wrong kind of myth.
Creativity
No credence is given to contemporary creativity or the Greece that lives beyond the shadow of its classical past.
There are, of course, reliable tour operators who provide knowledgeable guides and interesting itineraries, but they are very few, because few tourists want to move around from place to place, or to encounter the unfamiliar.
This country seriously needs intelligent tourists – people with enquiring and adventurous minds, who want a DIY holiday rather than something gift-wrapped and prescribed.
When I was in business here, our slogan was “Corfu is beautiful, affordable and safe”. It is still beautiful, despite the growth of unsightly resort hotels along the coast. It is still affordable because the pound and the dollar are strong against the euro, and anyway, prices here are favourable. A meal for four, including drinks, costs €60-€80. And it’s still safe because, unlike Athens, terrorism isn’t an issue in Corfu.
But the Corfu – and Greece generally – that is presented to the tourists is bland and short on the sort of beauty they could discover for themselves if they struck out into the villages where they will meet real heroes – everyday folk who are heroically sustaining life against the odds of austerity.
Richard Pine's Greece Through Irish Eyes will be published in October by Liffey Press
