The Naked Euro wins over for Greece

I know this is a little old but I wrote it last year but never posted for some reason but I think it’s still appropriate with the situation in Greece at the moment.

In the big-money world of tourism, Greece’s woes are proving a boom for Turkey. This may be the general case for tourism but not in the niche market of naturist holidays.

Greek hotels and tour operators have been slashing prices of flights and hotels in a bid to recoup money after TV images of street riots coupled with a strong euro earlier this year persuaded vacationers to book elsewhere. But the naturists have taken full advantage of the reduced flights to the Greek islands and have done there bit towards improving the number of tourist who visits Greece.

According to Vigla Natura Ltd the owners of the popular Vassaliki Naturist Resort in Kefalonia the numbers of visitors for 2010 are up with an overall occupancy rise of some 7% on 2009. With naturists sometimes frond upon or even disliked for swimming and sunbathing nude on secluded parts of the beach this discerning tourist is not to be snubbed.

Naturists are more often than not come from high pressure high earning jobs and are looking for a completely relaxing holiday and find naturism offers them the freedom to relax without the pressures of day to day life. They are looking for quality holidays and are not averse to spending there hard earned money to get it. A small twelve room resort can contribute an estimated half a million Euros a year to the Greek economy through room rental, car hire, excursions food and drink consumption, so a figure not to be dismissed.

Meanwhile, just across the Aegean Sea in Greece’s longstanding rival Turkey, 2010 is shaping up as a record year for tourism. Revenues in the second quarter for the industry as a whole were up 7.4%, compared with last year, while passenger arrivals in the first half were up by a quarter, according to Turkey’s airport authority.

But the news for the naturists who visit Turkey are not so promising with the closer of Turkeys only naturist resort in May, when Turkish local authorities ordered the closure of the resort and beach only six days after it was opened forcing guests to rebook there naturist breaks, with many choosing the two Greek naturist resorts in Crete and Kefalonia for the sunny Mediterranean climate and ancient monuments which makes Greece one of the world’s top 20 tourist destination.

City banker Samantha Taylor who previously worked for the American Bank JP Morgan Chase, saw the potential in this growing market and sold up in the UK and moved with her husband Mark to Greece in 2007 to open there first naturist resort.

The resort has been met by the naturist community with high praise with over 40% of guests each year returning to the resort.

With the success of Vassaliki resort under their belt they now have their second winter resort underway on the Western Cape of South Africa were they will be opening their new luxurious resort in December 2011.

So should we all open our hotels and resorts to naturists? Well the answer is no. The market is still in its infancy and resorts must be selected with great care and knowledge. We see resorts open but close soon after as they have not considered the naturist guests needs. Naturists are still a small minority and the community is small, get it wrong and the news will travel fast round the community via the many forums and message boards.

So if you are under pressure at work and want to find complete relaxation try it! Naturism may just be what you are looking for.