Have feelings of Greeks changed towards European tourists because of the crisis?

2/18/2014 2:11:01 PM

I am from Greece and have been living outside Greece since I was 18.

Even if I would like it to be in a different way, the average Greek would “separate” the European tourists in categories which I won´t get in here (although it is interesting I think).

Also the term “European” is not always clear among the Greek population. For example the ex-Yugoslavian or Balkan tourist would not be considered in general “European” even if his country belongs to Europe. Also it is not the same thing to be from Spain or the UK.

When it comes to after and before the crisis, I really do not think that you will see any difference.

Netherlands is considered definitely friendly even if it´s too close to Germany 😉

12/29/2012 9:50:46 AM

Although it’s true that there are copious amounts of anti-German rhetoric in local media, it’s mostly targeted towards German politics and politicians, not Germany in general or its people. Ewald Lienen, a German football coach who has been working in Greece for a few years, was recently asked more or less the same question by the Bild and his reply was:

I feel no animosity or German-hatred. On the contrary, they are all very courteous and friendly to me. I was not ever insulted, because I’m from Germany.

As a tourist, even if you were misidentified as a German, you wouldn’t really be at risk, at least not more at risk than if you were Greek. And the Netherlands doesn’t really come up in fiery crisis related talks (and why would it?).

To generalize the answer a bit, tourists from the EU don’t really have anything to fear. Yes, it’s possible that you might get a snarky look (or two) if you’re German, but that’s about it. Greece has a very long tradition in tourism, it’s part of our culture and essential to our frail economy. As choster already mentioned there have been no reported incidents of violence against tourists since the crisis began.

If you do decide to visit Greece soon, and you happen to get into a political discussion with a Greek, just agree with whatever they tell you and you’ll probably get a couple of free beers out of it 😉

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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