Zante’s the new place for British youths
The Greek island of Zante is the new hotspot for young holidaymakers, according to tour operators.
Faliraki became notorious last year due to the antics of drunken British youth but the police have clamped down on the area, putting a midnight curfew on music bars, and holidaymakers have gone elsewhere to party.
A spokesman for Club 18-30 said bookings to Zante were up 25 per cent on this time last year.
“It’s the new place to go because it still offers great value and the nightlife in the main town of Laganas is excellent,” he said.
The company was heavily criticised last year when two of its reps, who were subsequently dismissed, performed sex acts in public in Faliraki. But the spokesman said Club 18-30 was now setting an example.
“We have banned bar crawls in all resorts and we do not encourage drunken behaviour. We have only had the odd incident in Zante, such as someone recently jumping into the harbour naked, but nothing as bad as you would get in an average British town on a Saturday night,” he said.
A spokeswoman for rival youth operator 2wentys agreed there had been a big rise in bookings to Zante, but declined to give figures.
“We are still doing bar crawls because young people like to have fun, and we think it’s much safer than letting people get drunk in the town on their own,” she said.
“They take place on the first few nights, when the emphasis is on getting to know people. Bar crawls are good for that.”
Noel Josephides, managing director of Greece specialist Sunvil Holidays, said resorts were playing a dangerous game by attracting the youth market.
“We had some lovely properties in Zante, but pulled out a few years ago because we could see the way it was going.” he said.
“These countries don’t understand how travel companies work. They’ve promoted Zante this year and it’s flavour of the month, but it’ll be somewhere else soon. They may have one or two good seasons but will pay for it a hundred times over because it takes years to improve your image. Look at what has happened to Faliraki.”
Andy Cooper, director general of the Federation of Tour Operators, said it was aware of Zante’s popularity among British youths and had taken steps to ensure there would be no repeat of last summer’s scenes in Faliraki.
“FTO members have met with authorities in Zante and talked to them about how to avoid problems,” said Cooper. “For example we’ve advised them on how to police bars and not to sell drinks in those large fishbowls which were popular in Faliraki. We’ve also advised bars not to serve people when their drunk. They are really common-sense things but they can make a real difference.”
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