As record
numbers of migrants and refugee reach the shores of southern and eastern
Europe, there are concerns that the refugee crisis is hitting Greece's lucrative
tourism sector. A total of 218,394 migrants made the dangerous trip across the
Mediterranean Sea to Europe last month - not far off the 219,000 that arrived
during the entirety of 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) said on Monday.
Greece's Aegean Islands to the east of the
mainland have felt the brunt of much of the influx, with the island of Lesbos
most affected. These islands and the coast of mainland Greece are lined with
tourist resorts, leading to concerns about the impact on one of the country's
most important industries.
"The impact on the economy of the
islands is very big...Most of these islands live from tourism, so there is a
fear that tourism will go lower because of the immigrants that flowing into the
islands," George Xatzimarkos, governor of Greece's Southern Aegean
Islands, told CNBC on Monday.
Tourism accounts for about 20 percent of
Greece's total gross domestic product, according to Elena Kountoura, the
country's alternate minister of tourism for Greece. She said tourism numbers
had grown this year, despite migrant inflows and the troubles earlier this
summer as the country grappled with a debt crisis and impending bailout.
Kountoura said that while 22 million
tourists visited Greece in 2014, projections showed 25 million tourism arrivals
for 2015 - which would set a national record.
"We give priority to human rights, and
the tourists as well, so we didn't have impact so far. We're very proud to say
that all our tourists behave really great and they support these people that
left their countries and... are trying to survive," Kountoura told CNBC on
Monday.
"it's not a Greek problem...It's a
European and global problem, so we have to find a solution for these people…
because they're not numbers. They're souls, they're humans," she added.
Xatzimarkos also called for a wider European
response, saying Greece does not have the resources to deal with the crisis on
its borders alone. "It's huge. It's the biggest crisis that Europe has
faced on the migration issue," he told CNBC.
European officials should have dealt with
the first signs of the migrant crisis two years ago, he added. Now, authorities
should help finance refugee camps in the Middle East, particularly those in
countries like Jordan, which share a border with war-torn Syria, he said.
Many of the migrants and refugees coming to
Europe are fleeing violence in countries across the North Africa and the Middle
East, including Syria which is grappling with a years-long civil war.
Πηγή: cnbc.com
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