17 Million Tourists In Greece !!!!

Above is a picture of a beach in  Aegina , very near Aegina Town taken recently. Doesn't it look crowded ?
Can't  you see all the tourists, all the Russians, the Germans and the British ,sunbathing and playing in the sea ? Aegina, for those who don't know, is a beautiful Greek Island very near Athens.

In years before democracy was killed, and foreigners started ruling this country, from May onwards, or even earlier, this island paradise was a magnet for not only foreign tourists, but also Greek tourists.This time of year used to see the Tavernas, beaches and bars full of life.  Not this year though.

This is odd as according to Samaras, the Greek Prime Minister, 17 million tourists are expected in Greece this year, and what's more, this is the largest number Greece has ever had.. Surely then, they would start arriving by  now ?. I can only see a few on this island,in fact, fewer than last year at this time.Let's spell it out; I have never seen so few tourists ever since living here.

The Tavernas , cafes and bars have a sprinkling of tourists I admit, but absolutely nothing like it had in its golden years before democracy was killed and  the Troika took this country over. I'm talking about 3 or 4 tourists  in a Taverna here.

Maybe, for some reason, tourists are avoiding this particular island, though I can't think why as it's a wonderful , magical, enchanting island.Maybe all the other islands are really booming and Zorbra the Greek is alive and well.That must be it.I mean, a politician of such standing as Samaras wouldn't tell us something that wasn't true would he ?

17 million is a hell of a lot of people !The Greek population is about 11 million, so these tourists should outnumber the Greeks wherever you are.

Hey, I don't want to put a downer on this and maybe they will all start arriving in June. That must be it.

Samaras told Helena Smith who proudly calls herself a journalist, and works for the Guardian , a British newspaper,  that an all time record of 17 million tourists will arrive in Greece this year.

See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/14/greeks-welcome-record-number-of-tourists

I thought that I had made a mistake and the newspaper had reported that 7 million would arrive, but no, it really is meant to be 17 million.In fact, he actually said, amazingly enough, that at least, 17 million tourists will come here.How the Greek newspapers loved this !

Samaras also made this eyebrow raising statement: "Greece is now a new healthy place to work "*. I think that bears repeating: "Greece is now a new healthy place to work ".I am sure that the almost 70% unemployed  would heartily agree with this extraordinary statement.

I wonder why Helena Smith, the faithful repeater, I mean reporter, didn't look around Greece, as she was in Athens to interview the truthful P.M., to search for the 17 million tourists.

Didn't she wonder why she she didn't see hardly any ?

I guess not.

* This was in the original article in The Guardian, but it was quickly changed to read, " New healthy places to work ".