Why Is Corfu's Tourist Industry In Deep Crisis?; Corfu Magazine

Why Is Corfu's Tourist Industry In Deep Crisis?; Corfu Magazine - Spring/Summer 2011

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Corfu Airport Code: CFU

Editor's Notes:

If Corfu Is Such a Fantastic Island,

Then Why Is Its Tourist Industry In Deep Crisis?

David A. Ross

Seen from the air, Corfu is like a brilliant emerald set against a stunning back-ground of deep and infinitely blue water. Once on the ground, the island is noless beautiful or dramatic with its mysterious olive groves, its cliffside sea- views, its mountaintop perches and its quaint villages. As the northernmost island in the Ionian archipelago, yet situated in the southern Mediterranean, Corfu enjoys a very agreeable climate the year round. Corfu Town standsas an unique and interesting small city built originally in the Venetian style, though many examples of other architectural styles from successive historical periods are in evidence as well. Culturally, Corfu's Greek population is well accustomed and extremely welcoming to visitors from other lands. Philoxenia (the love of strangers) is a Greek tradition which is thoroughly embraced by the Corfiots, and anyone who's come to the island will tell you that the good will is indeed genuine.

So, if Corfu is such a fantastic island, then why is tourism in free-fall? And if tourism continues to decline, then what might the future hold for an island so well heeled for visitors?

The answers to such questions are neither easy nor singular. Nor are they always easy to face. In truth, the decline is the result of a number of unfavourable circumstances all working together to undermine a tourist industry that once flourished, and which the Corfiots always saw as never-ending. Yet as Corfu's tourist industry on whole comes closer and closer to a point of sheer crisis, the reasons for the continuing decline, and what that decline will mean to the island's economy and overall well being, must surely be addressed. In this article we shall try to make a bit of sense of Corfu's so-called tourist crisis, and we shall further try to define some of the more obvious ways to improve the situation, and also what this decline, along with an ever-increasing expatriate community, might mean for Corfu's future.

A Precipitous Decline in Quality,

And a Steady Increase in Price...

Many, if not most, of Corfu's tourist accommodations were built twenty-five to thirty years ago, and longtime visitors bemoan the fact that they have not been updated since their construction. While such a statement is of course an exaggeration, like most overstatements there is a bit of truth in it as well. It is a sad fact that many of Corfu's accommodations are seriously outdated in comparison with others being offered in Spain, or even in Turkey. What's more, the days of a cheap room at a friendly dhomatia are long past: while Corfu's hosts and proprietors may indeed be some of the friendliest and most welcoming anywhere, the cost of a simple room has risen significantly since the introduction of the euro as Greece's currency. Add to that the fact that Corfu's Tourist bureau has for years openly promoted all-inclusive tourist agency holiday 'packages' over independent entrepreneurs (which have always been and still remain the backbone of not only Greece's tourist industry, but of Greece's economy on whole), and one begins to at least partially understand the reasons for Corfu's declining tourism. Because while it is true that one can book an all-inclusive holiday at a very respectable, or even luxurious, hotel, or at a stunning private villa, if that is one's preference, the simple and small, family-run hotels and pensions that made travelling to the Greek Islands desirable in the first place have now all but gone. And the establishments of that nature that do remain are under supreme economic stress to continue. To cope with the domination of the tourist agencies, many private accommodation owners habitually sell out their rooms to foreign-based agencies, who are willing to pay a set price for the rooms for a given time period. The owners reason that a guaranteed something is preferable to a possible nothing, and sell the rooms to the agencies for a fraction of what the agencies end up charging their hapless and somewhat ignorant customers. The result: A holiday-maker in the UK will pay agency prices, while the hotel owner is paid a fifth - or sometimes as little as a tenth - what the agency has charged its client. Most tourists are none the wiser for the less than obvious rip-off, but the poor hotel owner (who is usually offered less each year by the agency for his beds) is left with a summer's work but little, if any, profit. Will he be painting the rooms at season's end? Will he be upgrading the beds and furniture? Will he be building the barbeque that he's envisioned for the past several years? Such renovation becomes more and more difficult, so owners simply try to get by with last year's accoutrements - or the previous year's - or even prior to that! Only the most essential repairs can be made, hence the overall quality of the accommodation declines year by year. At some point the tourist agencies are no longer interested in contracting a degraded or ramshackle establishment, so they leave the once trusting proprietors in the lurch. Which explains, at least in part, why so many of Corfu's once charming independent dhomatias are now so seriously retrograde in comparison with industry standards.

One of the primary factors determining whether any resort ultimately succeeds or fails is its accessibility. Corfu's geographical position as Greece's northernmost island would certainly seem an advantage, yet it can be difficult, at various times of year, to travel easily to Corfu. Gone are the days, of course, when most tourists- rucksacks slung over their shoulders - arrived on Corfu via ferry boat without advanced reservations for accommodation or transportation, or even a concrete plan of any kind to structure their stay. Today, most tourists to Corfu arrive by plane at Corfu International Airport, reservations secured and a return ticket in hand. Most holidays, it is fair to say, are bought through tour companies in the country of origin. What's more, 'cheap and cheerful' charter flights - especially from the UK, but also from all over Europe and even beyond now - have made travel seemingly easy and certainly affordable.

Even so, this transformation in the type of tourism the island now hosts is not without specific problems. At the forefront of those challenges is the airport itself. It is a relatively modern facility, though a bit small at peak times of the year and somewhat short on comforts.

However, due to short runways, and a rather 'interesting' approach, it is well known that very particular piloting skills are necessary to land at CFU. (I have personally watched pilots practice their approach and landing technique during the off-season). But such inconveniences are easily overcome in comparison with the greater impediment imposed by the airport authority. Landing or taking off from Corfu International Airport is no cheap proposition for the carrier. In fact, it is one of the most expensive airports in all Europe when it comes to arrival and departure taxes. These fees are of course reflected in individual ticket prices, or hidden within the overall cost of holiday packages. Add to that the fact that the UK to Corfu route is, in general, a difficult one for charter airlines to show profit. Barry Nielsen, the esteemed owner of Sailing Holidays, the largest yacht charter company operating in the Ionian region, explained the problem to me.

More recently I've heard rumours about a 'new' airport being built near Lefkimi on the south part of the island. Apparently, the cost of building a new airport for Corfu would be underwritten by the major tour operators selling holiday packages to the island. Since the south is largely undeveloped for tourism (with a few exceptions such as Kavos and St. George South), one supposes that a building spree the likes of which Corfu has never before seen (and its certainly seen its share of haphazard building projects in the name of tourism) would ensue, thereby marking a wholesale sell-out of the island to the tour operators by the Corfiots. Is the rumor true? Like all rumors, it probably has a shred of truth and a lot more exaggeration. Still, such an idea, in my opinion, marks the commitment to precisely the wrong approach toward securing a reasonable, and sustainable tourist industry for the island. What is needed is something more like an inverse approach. The philosophy, 'If I build it, they will come!' (Remember the Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams?) has led only to overbuilding (and poor construction), gentrification (How many mini-markets standing side by side do we really need?), and ever falling revenues and profits for business owners. On the other hand, the tour operators must surely not be feeling the Corfu pinch - not if they can contemplate underwriting the cost of building a new, state-of-the-art airport on a part of the island that is presently undeveloped. Indeed, they must have very big ideas for Corfu's future. Meanwhile, though, local businesses are under severe stress (many going under), and the younger Corfiots who inherit their birth rite in land, are literally 'selling the farm'.

Another, and possibly the most influential, issue confronting Corfu concerning its declining tourist industry is the ever-increasing number of British (and other) ex-pats moving to the island on either a seasonal or a permanent basis. The figures are staggering. When I came to Corfu in 2001 there were approximately 7,000 British registered at the British Consulate (and presumable many who never bothered to register). Today that number has risen to 10,000, and it is estimated that in total there are no less than 15,000 British living year round on Corfu. Add to that a sizeable population of Albanians (estimate: 5,000, though the number constantly fluctuates), perhaps 3,000 to 5,000 Germans, 2,000 Dutch, and more or less every other nationality in Europe, North America and Australia, and you have an ex-pat population of somewhere near 30,000 - a full quarter of the population of Corfu. These ex-pats are driving up land prices, thereby forcing out even more indigenous people who were once able to make a humble but sufficient living off the seemingly endless string of tourists. Not anymore, though. Because tastes have changed, prices are up, and Greece in general certainly isn' what it used to be. The sun still shines brightly during the summer tourist season, and the sea is still blue and clean and warm for swimming. But the bargains, at least for the time being it would seem, are only a memory.

Changing tastes, declining quality, easy access to other ports-of-call, a difficult transportation question: all these factors contribute to Corfu's steady and sometimes precipitous drop in tourism. Can the industry be resurrected? One would hope so, but a different approach will be needed, because it is not feasible to expect that simply doing more of what does not work now, and has not worked for some time, will initiate the needed change. Some have suggested winter tourism; while others have put forth the idea of eco-tourism. Such approaches may well be a step in the right direction, and many other creative endeavors will certainly be needed if Corfu's tourism industry is to experience any sort of renaissance. In the meantime, there's always next year. So let's not panic. Relax and have another coffee.