THE
party could be over in Faliraki as the Greek National Tourist Organisation
pledges to transform the resort and Club 18-30 says bar crawls could be off the
schedule for good.
GNTO
UK and Ireland director Panos Argyros warned it would be pushing to boost
family business in the resort. “We are going to protect the image of Greece and
Greek tourism. We will not tolerate any more of the behaviour seen this year,”
he said. “This is the end of Faliraki as we know it. We are determined to
achieve this.”
Meanwhile,
Club 18-30 overseas director Paul Little said the operator had cancelled bar
crawls in Faliraki for the rest of the season in the face of “farcical” rules
now in place, and said it was also likely to cancel them for next year.
He
said the operator will also “seriously” reconsider offering bar crawls – which
he said may be “old hat” – with the possibility of banning organised bar crawls
across all resorts by next summer. Little said he will discuss closing the door
on pub excursions with overseas managers at the season debriefing in November.
Little admitted bookings could be hit in
Faliraki next year, in the same way Ayia Napa had suffered from bad publicity.
“The youth market will vote with its feet and we will scale down accordingly,”
he said.