Going to Greece this year? Grexit threat
 

Given the continuing failure of talks regarding Greek debt the Dutch government is recommending that Dutch holidaymakers to Greece take a lot of cash with them, rather than relying on ATMs.
Since there is now a very real chance of a Grexit there could be a bank run, which would make it almost impossible for tourists to get cash.
So, counter to the normal good advice to use ATMs in Europe for cash if you are planning to visit Greece it may be better to get your Euro ahead of time.
Keep reading the developments in the debt negotiations as well.

Just out of curiosity, has there been an official travel advice from the Dutch government ?

No it isn't an official travel advisory, just a suggestion. The only official advisory for Greece is a risk of potentially violent protests in Athens.

Just checked UK HMRC and they have no change either, I guess the first that steps out of line will be accused of "attacking the cradle of civilisation".

Sorry -- but I'm confused. The original post says that the Dutch government has spoken on this issue, but in response to asking whether the Dutch government hasn't spoken officially.

Have to ask: Is this just one more instance of Djisselbloem rumor-mongering to crank up a bank run in Greece?

Sorry if my own post was confusing: Who is speaking here if it is the Dutch government but it is not an official travel advisory?

Have been reading warnings of this kind for a few years now.
Whatever will happen, will happen till the end of June.. if not sooner.

I had the same question Sandra, but it seems that it is nothing official.

clausar, I thought I would ask to spare you the aggravation! By the way, best wishes from Italy. Sorry Renzi has been such a twerp about this -- since, you know, we're next!

Sandralist, aren't you involved in the tourist industry in some way or another?

Shhhh...if we don't talk about it, it might just go away. It's not happening until its reported in the Guardian.

No, I am not involved in the tourist industry in any way, shape or fashion.

Personally, my non-professional advice is to take a couple of credit cards to Greece rather than a suitcase full of cash, because if capital controls are imposed, people won't be able to take money OUT of Greece. That's the point of them.

As for the Guardian, it has been hyping the "capital controls" story for at least 5 months.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/...alexis-tsipras

Even in the event of a Grexit, credit cards should still work wherever they are currently accepted, but, for whatever cash needs one does have, it may be hard to come by from an ATM (or even a bank)for a short period (one would hope only a matter of days) if Greece actually does leave the euro (still not a certainty). So, while I wouldn't take a briefcase full of cash, nor more than I would expect to use on the trip (as sandralist points out, capital controls might keep you from taking it out), I wouldn't count on being able to make ATM withdrawals during a Greek trip if such trip occurs during or immediately after a Greek withdrawal from the euro.

If I were planning a trip to Greece, I think I might prefer to pre-pay as many things as possible (like hotel stays). On the other hand, if Greece does leave the euro, the primary benefit would be seen through devaluation, so you might miss out on some savings if you pre-pay, so I guess it's sort of a certainty vs. possible gain trade off.

If Greece does leave the Euro, a devaluation would cause only pain to the Greeks, i wouldn't be happy about it , not even as a tourist !

It's not only Greeks who would be pained in the wallet by the Greeks leaving the euro.

It isn't an official travel advisor, it is a suggestion, made by not only the Dutch government but other European governments, to those visiting Greece this summer
Official advisories are actually mainly concerned with personal safety due to risk of civil unrest or terrorism.


The fount of all truth (joke!!) The Daily Mail also ahs an article on it http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...tched-off.html

It is entirely up to you of course, but I wouldn't rely on plastic in Greece this summer.

There is no way credit card use is going to be affected in Greece this summer. You are just being silly beyond all measure, and pointlessly fear-mongering.

Furthermore, it is simply NOT true that other European "governments" are issuing advice to take cash to Greece this summer. Name one, and cite a reliable source.

I cannot find words strong enough to express how low an opinion I have of not just the Daily Mail, but anyone who would regurgitate its bilge into the face of travelers, to what purpose, I don't know.

we were in Athens in October 2013 and there were protests (one violent) but it didn't affect tourism or travelers much. Also why can't people just use their Visa or Master cards for all purchases? Maybe get a few Euros for peace of mind, but we rarely used anything other than credit cards. And I think you get a better exchange rate as well.

hetismij2
what started as a recommendation of the Dutch government turns out not to be official travel advisor but a suggestion by some European governments?

Sandralist i was just reading your thoughts in another similar thread amd i must say, i couldn't agree more.

Greece will never leave the Euro, it will cause a Global Crisis and the West will collapse financially. All these warnings are made to scare the Greek politicians and accept the deal of the Banks. Don't listen to them, every time Greece must accept a painful deal there are warnings like Grexit, just to scare. This has been going for 7 years, it's tiring, honestly.

Is one of the more comical posts on here.

Greece's GDP is 1.3% of the EU total.

Germany makes up 21%, Britain and France make up 16% each.

Put simply some of the provincial cities of Northern Germany have a larger impact on the EU than Greece.

If Greece left the EU/ Euro it would suffer hugely for probably two years, savings would be wiped out and it would probably suffer inflation and a huge devaluation of the drachma against the Euro. The EU wouldn't suffer at all.

The devaluation would give Greece a huge competitive advantage over EU member countries and over the following five years it would re-establish itself.

Argentina did the same.

The world economy would collapse?

Ridiculous.

The only reason Greece hasn't been thrown out of the Eurozone, is for fundamentally political and foreign policy issues. Economically Greece should have been thrown out.

And Petros, it has been going on for 7 years because Greece took on so much cheap debt in an unsustainable manner to fund personal consumption. The debt showed no relation to either Greek productivity or the size of it's economy.

It's tiresome but paying your debts after a spending spree generally is.

@BritishCaicos, if it was so simple Greece would have been thrown out of the EU years ago. But it's not like that, the GDP means nothing. It's a Domino, if Greece fall it will not end there, other countries will follow, that will finally hit, -hard-, the big economies of the Union and the World. We are not talking for any country, Greece is part of the Eurozone, the richest Union in the World. It's not just a random country. A Grexit would -certainly- shake the world economy, it's not ridiculous at all. There will be a collapse.

The issue for me is has the corruption and cronyism of Greece been solved? I never believed that Greece should have been in the Euro but those countries that have bad corruption issues need to be cleaned or removed.

Still, my advice continues, take a couple of hundred bucks, it will be fine.

I don't think corruption is or was the problem. Many EU countries went very close to the edge. Most like Britain have low levels of corruption.

Greece's problem is the fact that it was mainly a cash economy with personal finance based on the age old principle of spend what you have and save for a "bad harvest".

Then came the Euro, cheap debt and Northern European banks willing to flood a new market with that cheap debt. Northern countries were used to cheap debt.

Greece's personal and government sectors loaded themselves with debt to levels beyond their GDP and productivity levels. The current situation is the result. It doesn't help when your tax take per head is low due to evasion. Similar problem in Italy.

Whose to blame ?

Everyone?

Greeks.
The Greek government.
The IMF
The ECB
And the Northern European retail banks

Who should suffer?

All parties.

The issue is the balance of suffering and where it falls.

"I don't think corruption is or was the problem" kidding right?

The Greeks should definitely leave the eurozone. They can reissue their own currency and pay down their external debt with devalued currency, instead of this absurdly stupid austerity nonsense. Common Greeks are already suffering but with no way out; dumping the euro will give them a way out.

Maybe in 30 years or so Greece can reconsider joining the euro, but first it will have to get its fiscal house in order and then demonstrate it can sustain such order.

"Maybe in 30 years or so Greece"

It will probably take 10 years of reducing pain.

An exit is the best option. Not from the EU but from the Euro, having open trade borders but a free floating drachma would give Greece a good advantage.

I posted above : thrown out of the Eurozone ie the Euro not the EU.

An EU exit for Greece could be a further disaster for Greece in term of immigration. Currently the huge numbers that are illegally entering Greece are being relocated around the EU. Should Greece leave, it alone will be left with the problem.

Corruption : doesn't help on any level but I can't think of any nation that has been brought to its knees following corruption. It is a symptom of mismanagement.

<<Currently the huge numbers that are illegally entering Greece are being relocated around the EU. Should Greece leave, it alone will be left with the problem.>>

Who is being relocated to the EU ? This is absolutely not true....
Let's keep that a travel forum pls.... i am sure there are many other websites where you can exchange your opinions.

I agree that, this being a travel forum, that should be the focus of the topic--how the current euro situation will impact travel. Not a lot of point in assigning blame here. As far as contingencies, other than plan on not being able to rely upon ATMs, and use your credit card wherever possible, if (and it's still if) Greece leaves the euro (or is forced out), I haven't seen a lot of pertinent travel discussion.

A Grexit could take many different forms, but whatever form it does take, I don't think advice to travelers is going to be too different.

Agreed that no nation destroyed by corruption but it does a bunch of things, after all why would those at the top destroy a nation that gives them free money?

It takes money from the poor and gives it to the rich
It reduces inward investment
It takes major percentages off the GDP

Still, the frustrating thing for me is that Greece was just starting a turn around when they had the recent election and put these guys in.

Ah, well it will be over soon.

This was the democratic choice of the Greeks, since when are elections frustrating, just because you don't like their outcome?

These guys were elected !!

You don't live in the country, you obviously have no idea of what is going on here.

I wish there was a mute button !

Thrown yet another lifeline. http://www.theguardian.com/business/...b-live-updates

Note in that article the advice to take cash. No bankrun this weekend anyway, though plenty of money has been taken out of the Greek banks over the last week.

Monday another chance.
Tsipras playing a dangerous game with Russia.

People really need to get a grip. Does not anyone even know that during the entire Cyprus banking crisis, which functioned for months with capital controls, every single ATM in the country worked as normal?

clausar,

Don't bother to read the bozos. Best of everything to you! Greeks are, right now, the biggest protectors and supporter of democracy, and economic sanity! In fact, apparently the only people left in Europe to understand what they are, value them, and be willing to risk something real for them. Once a hero, always a hero.

I'm going in sept. Went twice back in '12 when there was drama in the news, no ATM woes then. I don't plan on bringing any wads of cash like the media is saying. Bring a credit card. I'm sure all will be just fine. And if there is trouble with the ATM and I can't pay my hotel bill- I guess I'll just have to stay in Santorini until the problem is settled...

I have just returned from Greece, and it seemed then that the rest of the world was more worried about the Greeks than they were. However, they are now withdrawing their money just in case, so arriving with Euros is a good idea. We came from Italy and stocked up there.

Greeks are warm and wonderful people, and it was almost as if they couldn't fathom that anything really bad could happen to them. The everyday citizens, I fear, have an unrealistic grasp of what may result in either case, Grexit or not.

UNCalm

You just returned from Greece, I live in Greece....

Where did you see Greeks withdrawing their money ? Because life is going on as usual, and there was no bank run as the usual Cassandras predicted....

Also you may not have realized how worried people are, even though they keep calm. I think quite the opposite is happening, while the rest of the world is speculating on several scenarios, Greeks are the ones that are really hit by what is going on, as it is their own future that is being played.

I realize that as a foreigner having small talks with locals working in the tourist industry, you don't get the real picture.

I was staying in Greece with native Athenians who told me that they and all of their friends had been slowly withdrawing money from their banks. There was no small talk with locals in the tourist industry. They were very calm, saying that whatever happens, happens. I found that to be the prevailing attitude of everyone in their circle. I am worried about them.

It is clear that people react to stressful situations differently. I was simply reporting what I personally experienced there.

Listen, we live in this chaos for 7 years. In the beginning we were anxious, really worried about the future. But the years have passed, and now we have learned to live with the crisis. We hear catastrophic scenarios every single day. You see, the dream of the unity of Europe is dead, nobody cares about the people, nobody gives a damn about what the Greeks are going through. They just care about the money, getting our money and strangling Greece. European Union does not exist, it's a union of Banks.