Tourism in Athens Greece

On the frontline with tourists

AS THEY boarded the 5:45am flight from London's Gatwick Airport to Athens in Greece this morning, holidaymakers were weighed down by more than just the usual excess luggage. With Greece's euro membership hanging in the balance, as the result of its prime minister's decision to call a referendum (due to take place on Sunday) on whether to accept the latest bail-out offer from its creditors, holidaying Britons were preparing for the worst. Handbags, money belts, briefcases and wallets were all bulging with euro bills, out of fear that capital controls—or an exit from the single currency—could leave them stranded without any access to cash.

Most appeared to be taking this threat seriously. Tom Persons from London explained that he wasn’t taking any chances, and had brought along enough cash to sustain him for the entire holiday. “I’ve done the same, ” replied the lady in the queue behind him. Another man nodded beside her. With raised eyebrows, a couple from Devon whispered that they brought enough euros for the entire month, conspiratorially tapping the parts of their bodies where their cash was stashed.

Foreign-exchange services are the obvious winners in this Greek tragedy. Moneycorp, which has several desks at Gatwick, says that they had an 11% increase in euro purchases last week. Tracy Bownes, retail director at the firm, thinks recent guidance advising holidaymakers travelling to Greece to pack plenty of cash is a key driver. “Everyone has just been taking out loads and loads of euros, ” said one of the ladies at the desk, who promptly advised me to do the same: “That’s the advice we’re giving everyone. All the banks are closed there until July 7th and better safe than sorry.”

Once on the ground in Athens airport, the tourists who arrived armed with cash came out ahead. As Britons queued up for taxis, fishing out fresh €50 bills from their see-through currency envelopes, an old local lady tried the cash machine every few minutes. She wanted to pick up her daily allowance of €60 from her pension and was assured there would be money in this machine no later than noon, but at 12:15 it was still empty. A friendly lady at airport information assured me that there would be “no problem at all for you; foreigners can take out as many euros as they want”. Although cards linked to local bank accounts are limited to €60 in withdrawals per day, those with foreign accounts face no such limitations. But this is not always observed. The equally friendly man at the Eurochange counter, a foreign-exchange bureau mere steps away, couldn’t care less where I’m from: "There is a €60 limit for everyone paying by card here at Eurochange today. Foreign or not. Everyone."

Tourists with pockets stuffed with cash are spared this confusion over rules and allowances, and kept from worrying over empty cashpoints. “It’s all good and well that I can in theory take out lots of cash here, ” said Johan from Rotterdam in the Netherlands, “but if all the Greek people get their €60, the banks will still be empty and so I get nothing.” “I think the banks are already empty, ” added his friend, Jan, as they waited for their rental car. So the Dutchmen took enough euros to last their road-trip; €50 per day, all cleverly hidden away, they assured me, though they admitted that the arrangement was “far from ideal”.