Roundup: Tourist arrivals to Greek island fall by 65 percent, refugee crisis blamed

Tourist arrivals in the Greek island of Lesvos recorded a fall of 65 percent in May and local tourist agents said the refugee crisis has aggravated problems in local tourism industry.

According to official data of Lesvos airport "Odysseas Elitis", the island recorded 4,217 tourist arrivals in May, while a year before the arrivals were 12,043 for the same month.

A big fall was also recorded in April with 862 visitors, compared to the 2,037 in the same month of 2015.

A similar fall was noted on charter arrivals with 38 aircrafts landing on Lesvos island in May, comparing with 85 of May 2015.

More than half a million refugees and migrants have reached the islands' shores since early 2015 from Turkey to continue their journey to northern Europe. The influx has substantially stopped this spring following the EU-Turkey agreement, but the crisis still affects local tourism industry.

Most hotel rooms and restaurants are packed at Mytilene,with officers of the European border control agency FRONTEX, policemen, and members of NGOs.

But the traditional picturesque villages in the northern side of the island (such as Molyvos and Petra) and in the western side (such as Eresos) which are among the most popular tourist destinations of Greeks and foreigners for decades, recorded sharp falls, tour operators told Xinhua in recent interviews.

"The big fall of tourist arrivals will affect both economy and employment this summer," said Periklis Antoniou, president of the Lesvos Hoteliers' Association, who expected the loss of 8,000 jobs and an income of 5 million euros (5.61 million U.S. dollars) for the island's tourism industry.

During last week's General Assembly among the hoteliers of Lesvos, many of them blamed the refugee crisis for the fall and recommended either the closure of Moria and Kara-Tepe camps or the return of all refugees and immigrants to Turkey. The two main camps are now hosting about 3,000 refugees and migrants

But Antoniou explained that the refugee crisis was not the only factor to pinpoint.

"The refugee crisis has only sharpened our permanent problems in the tourism industry, such as the lack of destination managers and a task force to design and implement tourist development projects," he told Xinhua. Endit