A fall-off in the youth market to Faliraki will leave
the Greeks with a major problem of empty rooms, TUI UK managing director Chris
Mottershead has warned.
At a meeting in London Greek authorities announced a
series of measures designed to crack down on the loutish behaviour that
tarnished the resort’s image this year.
These include a new 24-hour police station at the end
of Bar Street with 20 officers and 10 community police, who will undergo people
management training to offer “a word in the right ear at the appropriate time”.
Many will also be English speaking.
Limits have also been put on bar crawls and
authorities are looking at introducing identification wrist bands for people on
crawls. Police have been working with their Blackpool counterparts on the
initiative.
Kallithea mayor John Iatrides said: “There’s no
question of there being a police crackdown. It’s a softly, softly approach. We
want young visitors to keep coming to Rhodes.”
However, according to Mottershead the general
youth market to Faliraki for next year is already 68% down, although only 5% of
all TUI’s bookings to Rhodes were through its youth Freestyle brand.