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Greek terrorists threaten war on tourism

Comments: 4

An urban guerrilla group has threatened to turn Greece into a war zone this summer, adding further concern for holidaymakers who already faced food and fuel shortages last week due to a strike by truck and tanker drivers.

Some tourists where also caught up in flight delays and cancellations after air traffic controllers began 'working to rule'.

The guerrilla group, the Sect of Revolutionaries, which has claimed responsibility for the murder of a Greek journalist last month, issued a leaflet threatening to bring mayhem during the holiday season.

"Tourists should know that Greece is no longer a safe haven of capitalism," it said.

"We aim to transform it into a war zone of revolutionary processes, with arson, sabotage, fierce demonstrations, bomb attacks, armed killings."

The Sect of Revolutionaries has not said it will target tourists directly and the British Foreign Office has not altered its travel advice to tourists since terrorist threat was made public, though it does warn tourists to expect disruptions throughout the summer due to further industrial strikes.

Speaking from Greece today, the UK director of the Greek National Tourism Organisation Sofia Panayiotaki said the country was 'one of the safest in the world'.

Breaking off from her holiday to talk to TravelMole, she said she did not believe tourists should be concerned by the latest threats of industrial action or terrorist activity.

"The government acted very quickly last week to bring in the army and private companies to make sure fuel got distributed and there are no shortages of anything now.

"I have driven from Athens to the north of the country today and everything is fine."

She reminded holidaymakers of the government's recent pledge to compensate any tourists who suffer financial loss due to strikes in Greece. "At the moment we are considering two cases of British tourists who missed their ferries," she said.

"Anyone else who has a problem caused by strikes can contact the tourist office in London when they return and we will consider their claim."

By Linsey McNeill

USER COMMENTS

Martin Drew

Director, Finder.co.uk Ltd.

03 August 2010, 09:17:05 GMT

Anyone Can Make a Threat

I don't own a gun, have any explosives or have the faintest idea how to make fertiliser into a bomb. I do know how to post a letter and how to register an untraceable e-mail address and send an e-mail from a public computer. So making these kinds of threat is very, very easy - carrying them out is pretty difficult. If we react to the threat we are playing into the hands of those who want to wreck the ability of the elected Greek government to take the action necessary to repair their economy. Newspapers and webites should ignore these stories until the Foreign Office or its equivalent in other countries believe the threats are sufficiently serious to warrant an official warning.

Diana Giannoulis

02 August 2010, 20:13:13 GMT

Is this 'knock Greece' year?

I saw this and thought it was a joke! Everything Mr. Der Parthog says confirms my own 30 years in the tourist business in Corfu, I saw the Guardian article on the tanker driver strikes that were supposedly crippling Greece, then I heard on Sky News the same day that British tanker drivers were probably going to strike. That is apart from BA, the Tube etc. etc. Shall we all leap up and down and say 'don't go to the UK'. Maybe we should, its what everyone says about Greece.

Dudley Der Parthog

Sunvil

02 August 2010, 13:36:02 GMT

Sense of perspective please

I am getting rather fed up with all the over-reaction to Greece's economic problems and subsequent doom-laden headlines. We (Sunvil) have sent some 7,000 clients to Greece to date this season, and not one has been stranded due to ferry strikes, everyone has flown in and out on the day planned (even on so-called 'strike days') and even these past few days all clients with car hire have been provided with enough petrol for their needs (petrol supplies are now getting back to normal). Our team of experienced reps and staff on the ground are well used to working around strikes in Greece - many of which are only having any significant effect in Athens or Salonika, not the islands and areas where visitors mainly stay. Terrorist threats are designed by their very nature to disrupt normal life, and by headlining the rather dubious claims of this little-known group you are simply perpetuating their ultimate aim of damaging the Greek economy still further by putting tourists off. Please can I reassure your readers that visitors to what remains one of Europe's safest and most beautiful countries are finding a welcome even warmer than usual, and uncrowded beaches and tavernas. So please rein in the negative and sensationalist reporting and remember that many thousands of people have enjoyed successful holidays with few problems this year and we anticipate this will continue.

Orestis Papadopoulos

02 August 2010, 11:53:17 GMT

Misleading Information

At least since 1990 no tourist has been hit by a terrorist group (17th of November, ELA, Sect etc) in Greece. So far all these groups have avoided to hit "innocent" people. Reading carefully Sect's leaflet you could point out that they don't want to hit by accident "innocent" people, so we believe and we hope that they would certainly avoid to act so on purpose in the future.

Any such threat should be weighed up and filtered better before going public.

Last but not least: Ms Panayiotaki certainly stated: IS and not WAS "one of the safest in the world".

Best regards,

Orestis Papadopoulos