Alcohol & sex fuel Brits' vacations in Greece

[zefs]

Alcohol & sex fuel Brits' vacations in Greece
British tourists, most of them young, descend upon Crete for tours of sex and ouzo. Research shows British 16-24 year olds engaging with new sex partner abroad is 23% for men and 17% for women.
Thursday, August 28, 2008By Stephen Brothwell


Rather than heading for the beach during her summer holiday in Greece, Charli, 21, queues at the local clinic for emergency contraception. Four days earlier she had made the same journey that as many as 1 million young Brits undertook last year - to "the new Ibiza", the resort town of Malia, on Crete.

Disorientated from her hangover and surprisingly unembarrassed, she cannot remember much about the previous night's activities, but when she woke up in the morning there were four men in her bed.

"The best nights are the ones with the spirits flowing," she says. "Me and my best mate Kez ended up dancing on the bar by the end of the night. We did shots off each other's stomachs. We got loads of attention. I can't remember what happened after that."

In Malia, this is normal. The clinic Charli visited released statistics last month revealing that it has been providing around 100 women with the morning-after pill every day between June and September. Usually the women are British and in their late teens. Many of them have had multiple sex partners.

The clinic also estimated that around half of the sexually-active tourists in Malia have unprotected sex.

Research published in the British Medical Journal on 8 November 2007 shows that in some respects British tourists in Malia are a symptom of a larger problem. According to the report, the proportion of British 16- to 24-year-olds who engage in sexual activity with a new partner when abroad is around 23 percent for men and 17 percent for women. It goes without saying that their chances of contracting a sexually transmitted disease are great.

Kez is with her friend in the queue but looks less the worse for wear. "Every night we get properly hammered," she says. "Just knowing that no one knows who we are and we won't have to answer for anything after we leave is the best part.

"I've been to Greece twice with the girls, and we're sure to come back - there're always loads of hot guys. There's a wicked atmosphere here, plus most of the locals seem to understand that we just want to have fun."

It's true. Much of the island greets the yearly influx of tourists with some amusement.

Take Nikitas, in his 50s, who recently bought a summer house in Malia. The rest of the year he lives in the island's capital, Irakleio, but he makes his yearly trek to the resort town because he likes the atmosphere.

"I like seeing all the different people," he said. "I go down to watch each night. I have a drink on the main street with all the bars, and I'm learning English by being surrounded by the young girls.

"The other day a British tourist walked through a shop window because he thought it was his hotel. Now he's in hospital. You'll never believe some of the things that happen here; they are hilarious. I love it!"

Some of the local business owners also seem satisfied with what Malia has become. Michalis Akpri rents apartments to tourists and can now rent a one-bedroom apartment for 600 euros a month, 200 euros more than five years ago.

A town in revolt

However, his joy is not shared by everyone. Last year there were large-scale marches by many of the 3,000 residents of Malia against the "British invasion".

"The road deaths, the bad behaviour, they are contagious," said Xenia Milona, one of the few older women who braves leaving her house during the tourist season. "I was speaking to the other village women and we all agreed - in Malia, you can make money, but the price is that you lose your children."

Stories like that of Leah Andrews, 20, are tainting Malia's reputation, both nationally and internationally. Andrews faces murder charges after having allegedly strangled her newborn child on July 21, hours after giving birth. She had just been on a night out in Malia when the incident occurred.

Local police claim to have launched a crackdown in response to the Andrews case - 68 tourists were arrested last week in Malia alone - but this type of behaviour continues. In a hotel bar, on August 20, a 49-year-old tourist was stabbed in the stomach by the manager and remains in a critical condition, while a street fight involving 500 people was reported the week before.

Backlash

In recent weeks, both the government and the Greek media have attempted to deflect responsibility for places like Malia onto the British tourists and tour agencies that go there. The ministry of tourism, when interviewed on August 1, told this newspaper that the "bad" British tourists were not attracted by the Greek government, but rather by the foreign tour operators.

The respected Greek newspaper, Eleftherotypia, on August 16, published an equally damning editorial about British tourists but remained silent about Greeks' responsibility for their own tourism industry. "British 'standards' include consuming alcohol to the point of fainting, women having one-night stands that they do not remember the next morning and casual quarrels that can lead to fights," the article stated.

But the British Foreign Office was keen to emphasise that things are improving. Earlier this year, the Greek ministry of tourism, UK tour operators, British and Greek police and mayors from many resort towns participated in a meeting at the British embassy to discuss the issue. All parties agreed to a "roadmap", which sets out a range of practical measures to combat the problem.

"The aim of the roadmap is to ensure tourists still have fun but avoid the hazards associated with excessive drinking," the British Foreign Office told the Athens News. "The Greek police helped us with our publicity campaign, tour operators signed up to take more control over pub crawls and local mayors agreed to better control the quality of alcohol sold to young tourists.

"Our close work with the Greek authorities in tourist resorts has only further strengthened and deepened our partnership with Greece."

Stephen Brothwell writes for Athens News and appears here with permission.
http://www.phantis.com/

[johnalexis]

Greece is getting a bad name again because our tourist industry is not doing a good job. For years now hotel owners etc. have been interested in getting as many tourists as they can to Greece, offering low priced package tours.

The English are uncontrollable when they drink, especially if they are in another country.

We have all seen the rotten publicity Greece receives when videos are shown of drunken English men and women displaying themselves to the cameras.

The result : tourists who are respectable and are willing to pay a reasonable price for their holiday are avoiding Greece.

This is the kind of publicity Greece is receiving :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...in-Greece.html

Police have already received 41 rape allegations involving British victims so far this year, according to reports.

The figure compares with a total of 39 rape allegations brought by British women for the whole of last year.

And police believe the true level could be much higher, amid suggestions that as many as three quarters of attacks go reported.

"This figure is the worst ever," one police official was quoted as saying.

"At this rate it will break all previous records by the end of the holiday season."

The rise in rape claims came as separate Foreign Office figures showed a surge in the number of British people arrested abroad for drink-fuelled bad behaviour.

A report released earlier this week showed that the number of Britons detailed by police in Spain had risen by a third in a year and 42 per cent in France.

Police in Greece said those responsible for the rapes were often British men, followed by eastern European migrant workers.

But the risk of rape in Greece eclipses that in other European countries, for British women.

Greece is the fifth most popular destination for UK holidaymakers with three million Britons visiting the country last year.

But the number of British women allegedly raped there is on a par with Spain which attracts 17 million UK holidaymakers annually."


There are dozens of news reports on this subject in the newspapers and on the web.

What the headlines don't say of course that the men responsible are usually English boyfriends that these women were partying with.

Greece is the country that is being defamed with all this publicity.

And the Greeks are to blame for this because of their greed and the inability of our police to do their job. Perhaps the police are just obeying orders in another futile attempt to prove to the world that we are one of the most civilized and democratic countries in the world. What this translates as, is that criminals are quite free to do what they want, as are drunken tourists.

John

[edessa]

Originally Posted by johnalexis

Greece is getting a bad name again because our tourist industry is not doing a good job. For years now hotel owners etc. have been interested in getting as many tourists as they can to Greece, offering low priced package tours.

The English are uncontrollable when they drink, especially if they are in another country.

We have all seen the rotten publicity Greece receives when videos are shown of drunken English men and women displaying themselves to the cameras.

The result : tourists who are respectable and are willing to pay a reasonable price for their holiday are avoiding Greece.

This is the kind of publicity Greece is receiving :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...in-Greece.html

Police have already received 41 rape allegations involving British victims so far this year, according to reports.

The figure compares with a total of 39 rape allegations brought by British women for the whole of last year.

And police believe the true level could be much higher, amid suggestions that as many as three quarters of attacks go reported.

"This figure is the worst ever," one police official was quoted as saying.

"At this rate it will break all previous records by the end of the holiday season."

The rise in rape claims came as separate Foreign Office figures showed a surge in the number of British people arrested abroad for drink-fuelled bad behaviour.

A report released earlier this week showed that the number of Britons detailed by police in Spain had risen by a third in a year and 42 per cent in France.

Police in Greece said those responsible for the rapes were often British men, followed by eastern European migrant workers.

But the risk of rape in Greece eclipses that in other European countries, for British women.

Greece is the fifth most popular destination for UK holidaymakers with three million Britons visiting the country last year.

But the number of British women allegedly raped there is on a par with Spain which attracts 17 million UK holidaymakers annually."


There are dozens of news reports on this subject in the newspapers and on the web.

What the headlines don't say of course that the men responsible are usually English boyfriends that these women were partying with.

Greece is the country that is being defamed with all this publicity.

And the Greeks are to blame for this because of their greed and the inability of our police to do their job. Perhaps the police are just obeying orders in another futile attempt to prove to the world that we are one of the most civilized and democratic countries in the world. What this translates as, is that criminals are quite free to do what they want, as are drunken tourists.

John

Well, what can the hotel industry do? Ban all english under the age of 30? Greece is not the only one where they cause trouble, also look at Spain. It's not Greeces' fault that everyone wants to visit the most glorious place in the world
The respected Greek newspaper, Eleftherotypia, on August 16, published an equally damning editorial about British tourists but remained silent about Greeks' responsibility for their own tourism industry. "British 'standards' include consuming alcohol to the point of fainting, women having one-night stands that they do not remember the next morning and casual quarrels that can lead to fights," the article stated.

Im packing my bags for Malia as we speak