'Freedom' for Greek beachgoers – under drone's watchful eye
In the midst of their first heatwave of the year, thousands of Greeks were released on to the Athenian Riviera this weekend to do what beachgoers love to do: swim, lounge and soak up the rays. They were not disappointed.
“Life! Freedom! A breath of fresh air,” enthused Maria, a retired bank worker, relishing the scene with her friend Danae. “Relief,” said Danae, sitting up and raising her arms to the sky. “At long last, a big psychological relief.”
But that freedom is now measured in metres, even if Greece has kept Covid-19 infection and mortality rates unusually low. Maria and Danae lounged on sunbeds at a 10-metre distance from their fellow bathers. Behind them Zissimos Zissos, a town hall employee, guided a drone over the beach on a mission to detect congested danger zones, broadcasting the robotic message “we keep our distance, we respect public health”.
“It shocks people but they do look up and move away,” Zissos smiled, as municipal police and guards wended their way through reed umbrellas, urging beachgoers to respect the rules or risk being fined.
“It’s a venture into the unknown, a different world,” said Giorgos Papanicolaou, the mayor of Glyfada, whose municipality runs the long stretch of public beach south of Athens’ city centre. “But it’s gone better than expected. Children are a bit more difficult to control but so far there haven’t been any penalties.”
With unseasonably high temperatures prompting fears of uncontrollable numbers descending on the riviera, Papanicolaou led calls by locals mayors last week for the government to open up “organised” fee-paying beaches along the Attica coast. On Friday, in what was seen as a crucial test for tourism, the centre-right administration agreed that 515 beaches could resume business on condition that strict rules were adhered to.
At 8am on Saturday beach clubs duly opened, without music, alcohol or sports facilities that might encourage social interaction. With each changeover, sunbeds – some chained to canopies to ensure social distancing – were disinfected. In the same spirit, umbrella poles had to be four metres apart – a distance many, including Papanicolaou, deemed too close for comfort and more than doubled.
Only 40 people per 1,000 sq metres were permitted on any of the beaches at any one time.
Across southern Europe, tourism’s salvation is crucial. A fifth of the Greek workforce – more than a million people – are employed in the industry.
Across the Ionian Sea in Italy, where tourism represents 15% of jobs, reinvigorating the sector is important for kickstarting the economy and ensuring the financial chasm between northern and southern states in the eurozone is not further exacerbated. With this in mind, the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, has promised Italians they will be allowed to go on holiday
this summer.
Italy has about 5,000 miles of coastline – almost half that of Greece – to which thousands of people flock each summer, many renting loungers and umbrellas for the entire season. Private beach establishments, orstabilimenti,are an essential part of the economies of beach towns, and they too are now readying themselves for opening after the officials outlined new guidelines late on Friday.
Under the rules, beachgoers must pre-book their loungers (which will need to be disinfected between each user) and possibly undergo a temperature test, at the discretion of the beach manager, who can bar anyone with a temperature of more than 37.5C from entering.
People must also maintain a twometre distance when in bathroom or shower areas. Swimming pools will be closed and it has been advised that sporting activity should be avoided. Local authorities will have to apply similar rules for free beaches.
There have even been rumours of people being asked to wear electronic tags to track their movements, and obtaining tickets and waiting their turn before taking a dip in the sea.
“We’re feeling a bit lost in the sense that we still don’t fully understand what we need to do,” said Loredana, who manages Romeo beach resort in Santa Severa, close to Rome. “Of course there will be social distancing and we will follow all the safety guidelines as the virus is still circulating, we just need to properly understand them. We’re hearing that we can start from 1 June, but it’s not certain.”
As in Italy, Greece may be forced to rely on domestic tourism this year. Yet, more than ever, it will be foreign tourists – the mainstay of the industry – that the country hopes to lure when, if all goes to plan, it relaxes border controls on 1 July. Its vast archipelago of islands, still off-limits to visitors, have remained Covid-free. In another tentative step, ferry links between Crete and the mainland resume on Monday.
Behavioural psychologists may balk at the spectre of recreation being so heavily regulated. But what happens along the Athenian Riviera in the coming days will be key to southern Europe regaining a semblance of life as it once was under the hot Mediterranean sun. “Everyone is watching Greece,” said Stelios Petsas, a government spokesman, announcing that private and public beaches could once again be accessed and enjoyed – just with less abandon than before.