“We, as a municipal authority, have never allowed umbrellas and deckchairs to exist on beaches for years. And we did this because our island is small. The geomorphology of the beaches does not allow you to place even a few, and we also know very well that the right you grant to some entrepreneurs is always circumvented”, said the mayor of Lipsi, Fotis Maggos, speaking to public broadcaster ERT.
Lipsi: Model water autonomy destination with zero leaks
In response to a related question, he explained that “every year the Public Land Service asks us in writing to let them know if we, the Municipalities, wish to grant the use of the beaches to private individuals for the placement of seats, umbrellas, etc. We always answer negatively that we do not want to the Land Service to grant us the right which, in turn, we will grant to entrepreneurs, and that’s how it ends there.”
Occupancy at 100%
Regarding the tourist traffic, Mr. Maggos said that “we are currently at 100% occupancy for 10-15 days and this will continue to happen until the beginning of September. From then on, until the 15th the occupancy is around 95% and will slowly start to decrease. But if what happened in previous years is verified due to the coronavirus, when the season was moved to October, then we will be talking about a large and significant increase in the absolute number of visitors this year “.
“We estimate the official and unofficial tourism beds of the island to be around 1,500. If you take into account that every day we have around 100 to 150 sailing boats that dock in the port but also in the bays of the island, we are talking that tourism can reach around two to two and a half thousand people per day together with the daily cruise at the same time” he added .
Lipsi, like some other islands, (Koufonisia, Gavdos) has chosen to leave the beaches free even though their tourism is increasing.
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