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Good Luck With That: U.K., Greece Aim to Curb Booze Tourism

Where: Greece
July 25, 2009 at 1:13 PM | by | Comments (2)

When it comes to getting 'housed on holiday, few nationalities do it better than the British, whose reputation for expatriate debauchery is legendary. Turns out, though, that such extreme inebriation has a downside, ranging from fights to sexual assaults to automobile and scooter accidents. Officials in the U.K. and Greece, a popular holiday destination for young Brits, are fed up with the embarrassing actions of a few hardcore lager louts and are doing something about it. As Reuters points out, Britain urged "Grease" on Thursday to ban bar-hopping tours in which patrons visit so many bars in an evening that even having one drink in each would put you well out of touch with your senses.

I'm not sure if this would really have an effect on alcohol consumption. After all, as long as there have been tourists, there have been drunk tourists. But a recent spike in binge drinking does represent an opportunity to reeducate people about the risks of overindulgence. Also, in some cases it's not even the fault of the tippler. Apparently, some resort bars actually add industrial alcohol to drinks in order to save money, a tactic that some blame for the crazy behavior.

A little bit of boozing - and even the occasional bender - is a wonderful part of travel, but it's easy to go overboard with the sickly sweet shooters and endless Coronas on a sunny day at the beach. Best to pace yourself and keep your wits about you. You spent a fair amount of money on your vacation, don't spend half of it too hung over to go sightseeing.

[Photo: The Shark Book]

Related Stories:
· Greece Called Out over Booze Tourism [Reuters via msnbc]
· Drunk Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

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Economic impact

Is Greece's economy so strong that it can forego the British drinking money?
zeverson on July 25, 2009 at 8:23 PM #Permalink

Yes

It is. If you're imagining Greece is getting rich off 1.50 euro beers, you're mistaken. In fact, the places that were formally infamous for this kind of boozing have gone upscale. It's much more expensive to travel to Greece now than it used to be for a variety of reasons, cost of hotels, food, even ten euros at the beach for an umbrella. Those who were in Ios during the 80s and 90s would find a totally changed island now. It's not that hard for the Greek police to get a hold of drinking either, as frequent bar raids put a damper on the excess at the whims of the police chief.
Vlad Vrocholoka on July 26, 2009 at 11:02 AM #Permalink

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