Tourism suffers as blackout strikes on Greece’s Hydra

ATHENS: A power outage has left holidaymakers on the Greek island of Hydra without electricity and water since Sunday at the height of the tourism season, authorities said yesterday as they worked to repair the problem.

The blackout affecting Hydra, a popular destination not far from Athens, began early on Sunday and later hit its water supply system as many of its pumps relied on electricity, said the island’s mayor, George Koukoudakis.

“We are not able to measure the impact yet, but as the island is full of visitors this gives a bad impression,” he said.

The island gets its power from continental Greece via two undersea cables, and damage was detected in one of them, an official at Greece’s power utility said. It was not yet clear, however, why the power supplied via the second cable also failed. Cash withdrawal machines were not working, while mini-markets, restaurants and ice-cream shops on Hydra saw much of their stock destroyed in the summer heat, Greece’s SKAI TV said.

Telecommunications were limited.

Nikos Sofianos, who owns a hotel on the island, said the economic impact was huge, and several visitors had left yesterday morning.

“Our hotel is fully booked, but our customers are not able to use toilets or take a shower,” Sofianos said.

Tourism is one of Greece’s main sources of revenue, driving a tentative economic recovery after a long crisis.

The country of about 11 million people attracted more than 27 million tourists last year, and expects a record 32 million this year.