What is required for the extension of the tourist season
editorial
02 Sep 2022
/ 20:15
Perhaps the most important requirement concerns the limits of economic activity, especially when it affects the daily operation of the town.
The two conferences on tourism, in the organisation of which Enimerosi participated, showed how necessary the establishment of a Destination Management Organization (DMO) in Corfu is, following the example of so many other tourist areas. The initiative for the extension of the tourist season was taken by the representatives business bodies, hotels, accommodation rentals and travel agents.
This is something extremely difficult since Corfu does not have the necessary public infrastructure (other than the sun and the sea) to host events that will attract visitors. However, highlighting this issue also underlines the lack of infrastructure. It creates new requirements for upgrading and building new infrastructure.
Perhaps the most important requirement concerns the limits of economic activity, especially when it affects the daily operation of the town. Short-term rentals, for example, are the result of seeking to ensure that no value remains without being productive. Not even for a minute. Thus, internationally, rooms have been turned into rentals, private cars into taxis, while one can sell homemade food in their home on Sundays. It is not a joke. This is the international trend of turning the whole 24 hours into productive time. It started as a voluntary initiative and then became industrialised, changing everyone's daily habits.
Thus, the extension of the tourist season requires not only business initiatives but also administrative interventions in order to protect life and its quality in Corfu Town and the surrounding areas. When everything is regulated as if it were market values, everything else is being eliminated and marginalised.
As for the reactions to the news of this initiative in Enimerosi's social media, it was obvious that people are fed up with the intensity of the summer tourist months. Especially when the distribution of resources arising from tourism activity is extremely unequal and unfair to the people, they are rightly frustrated with this situation. But the problem will not be resolved with curses...
This is something extremely difficult since Corfu does not have the necessary public infrastructure (other than the sun and the sea) to host events that will attract visitors. However, highlighting this issue also underlines the lack of infrastructure. It creates new requirements for upgrading and building new infrastructure.
Perhaps the most important requirement concerns the limits of economic activity, especially when it affects the daily operation of the town. Short-term rentals, for example, are the result of seeking to ensure that no value remains without being productive. Not even for a minute. Thus, internationally, rooms have been turned into rentals, private cars into taxis, while one can sell homemade food in their home on Sundays. It is not a joke. This is the international trend of turning the whole 24 hours into productive time. It started as a voluntary initiative and then became industrialised, changing everyone's daily habits.
Thus, the extension of the tourist season requires not only business initiatives but also administrative interventions in order to protect life and its quality in Corfu Town and the surrounding areas. When everything is regulated as if it were market values, everything else is being eliminated and marginalised.
As for the reactions to the news of this initiative in Enimerosi's social media, it was obvious that people are fed up with the intensity of the summer tourist months. Especially when the distribution of resources arising from tourism activity is extremely unequal and unfair to the people, they are rightly frustrated with this situation. But the problem will not be resolved with curses...
