As we enter the final month of the tourist season, the dark clouds are gathering. Tourism professionals are discontented; they are protesting, grumbling, and complaining about a 15%–20% decline in tourist arrivals.
Maybe they’re telling the truth—or maybe not. But that’s not the main issue. For years, there has been no tourism policy for the island. Not even a thought has been given to deciding what kind of tourism we want, or which infrastructure projects should be prioritized and implemented. A meeting and a discussion between the municipal government and all stakeholders in the tourism sector. It has never, ever happened.
Tourism is a major industry that involves the whole of society. From restaurant owners, shopkeepers of all kinds, hoteliers, airlines, ferry companies, travel agencies, to ordinary residents of all municipal districts and settlements.
The island's topography provides fertile ground for many types of tourism: traditional tourism, religious tourism, hiking, rock climbing, and sports tourism.
What infrastructure and what strategic approach can we use to gain access to these segments of the tourism market?;
Public transportation is nonexistent; wastewater management is extremely inadequate, if not nonexistent (a short walk through the area above Paleochora on a daily basis will answer all your questions); and waste management is extremely inadequate. The elected monarch has brought the Kythira Waste Management Plan to life!
Projects to conserve water and replenish groundwater reservoirs do not exist.
Desalination, and more desalination. Without any understanding or empathy for what these projects actually mean. Mental ineptitude and Avderitism are the protagonists in this one-act play. (It doesn’t surprise me at all. The elected monarch has a hard time understanding the difference between a plumber and a mechanical engineer. What’s the big deal—it’s just volleyball or a trolley!)
Direct awards have their pros and cons. It’s all down to one man. The rest of the participants play a purely decorative role.
In everyday conversations among ordinary people, you often hear talk of flowerpots. It’s probably just a sign of the times we’re living in, and they’re talking about their gardens with the goal of preserving their seeds and harvesting produce for the family table!
This is the reality. Cannibalism and anthropophagy are the order of the day. Anyone who voices criticism… is burned at the stake. «Sue him, because he wrote an article and talked about a thug. So he’s implying it’s you….» The only one who hasn’t protested so far is the loan shark!
But there are also the other «Gentlemen» who «fight» and «struggle» to «save» us. And the various know-it-alls who guide them and dictate the rules to them. They obviously consider us deficient in knowledge or, at best, «natives.».
We are living in an era of «equal distance from both extremes.» Their brilliant «leader» is Marantzidis. Selective sensitivities. «Today it’s them, tomorrow it’s us. Don’t overthink it.».
Locked away in air-conditioned rooms with armchairs, entrenched in their networks of social isolation, they tell us about the tough battle they’re fighting. They’re «fighting» to take over the «city»—to get their own people on the board of directors—to gain control of the situation. They’re circumventing every legal framework, every article of the bylaws.
They claim that this is how they promote culture! Democracy à la carte.
They are completely unaware that democracy at every level means a municipal government. Those who are elected are accountable to the citizens. They are obligated to implement the proposals put forward by the citizens and to be accountable to them. They must keep them informed and convey what the citizens believe needs to be done.
But no, that's not the case. They consider themselves all-knowing and the people uneducated and ignorant.
They’ve «managed» to convince us that the Earth is flat and not a sphere! How else can one explain that «the ship is heading full speed toward the cliff»?.
«People of Lilipoupoli, raise your flag now
With Mayor Harchoudas, you'll never see a bright day
And if you were a Harchoudikos, it's time to repent
Become a Dystropopig if you want to get ahead
The people of Charchouda elected Charchouda as mayor
And their lives are ruled by a bear-butterfly
But in the other elections the wheel will turn
»And the whole of Lilipoupoli will vote for me.".
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An Eteo-Tsirigotis
And for copying
Stavros Megalokonomos
