TOURIST chiefs in Faliraki have launched a crackdown
on organised pub crawls in an effort to clean up the Greek resort’s beleaguered
reputation.
Operators will have to apply for special licences
before running the boozy nights, giving details of the intended route and which
bars will be visited.
Officials in Rhodes have acted in response to the bad
publicity generated by the antics of
British tourists last year. A spate of sex attacks on female clubbers,
TV documentary series Club Reps and a critical episode of Tonight with Trevor
McDonald all damaged the resort.
Greek National Tourist Board UK director Panos Argyros
said: “The real villains are the people who do deals with bar owners to get
tourists in. They sell tickets for pub crawls but don’t offer tourists any
support. We don’t want the scenes of last year, where young people were left so
drunk they couldn’t find their way to their hotels.”
Argyros said he was sure UK operators would support
the licensing scheme and it was not the intention to stop them offering bar
visits. “They know they have a responsibility to protect their clients. We had
problems with the media and we don’t want to repeat it.”