travel in Greece during this bad economy
 

My son (25) and two friends are planning to travel in Greece this May. It's been many years since I have been there and don't know how the current Greek economy might affect travel, for better or worse. Any thoughts?

They won't even notice that there is a crisis in Greece..

I had been to Thessoloniki and Athens recently. I didn't face any problems, during my trip.

The likelihood of transport disruption through strikes is currently higher than it was six years ago (ie not very), but less than a year ago.

The likelihood ordinary political demonstrations in Athens (and probably other large cities like Thessalonica) will get violent is higher than in most of Western Europe. but less likely than a year ago, and confined to clearly defined parts of towns everyone is familiar with. Greek demonstrations these days are an interesting spectator sport - but best seen on TV, and not worth the risk of getting directly involved with.

They'll find few positive surprises (except that there's really nothing to worry about). Greece's basic economic problem is essentially that its currency is overvalued (so its businesses can't compete, so they can't generate the tax base necessary to pay off its public debts). For all the global whining about European sluggishness, Greece's currency is still worth 55% more against the dollar than a decade ago.

If they're American, they won't find bargains. Folk tales of fire sales in economically-challenged countries happen ONLY when their currency collapses. Greece's problem is the opposite: foreign currencies have collapsed against Greece's.

Greece's currency is the Euro.....

Greece's problems are quite different from what you describe, but i won't start a discussion about it, since this was a post about something else.

Traveling to Greece is safe as always, the economical crisis does not affect tourists in any way.

Portugal, Spain and at some extend Italy are suffering from the same crisis....

We visited Greece again last summer just before the elections. The only slight problem we experienced was shorter museum hours due to budget cuts. Tourists are welcome - as always - in Athens and the islands. Strikes are a fact of life now in so many countries ( including the U.S.) that I wouldn't worry about it. Your son will probably have a fantastic time.