Where have all the people gone?

We have heard the news! The dreaded Broon is no more! I do a little dance and sink a beer in celebration!

This news has come by word-of-mouth as there no newspapers on Paxos. The local 'hotel' has satellite telly and apparently the BBC World Service appeared for the first 4 days and hasn't been seen since. No one seems to know exactly where it has gone...

Anyway, it must be true because last week I only got €1.09 for my good old British quid and today it has gone up to €1.14 so either the pound rallied on the news of the dreaded Broon's departure or the Greek Euro has gone even further down the crapper. Or maybe both?

Equally mysterious is the disappearance of all the tourists! Now I will grant you that Paxos is a little off the main tourist track, but the place is deserted. I've spoken to a few people who come here every year about this time, and they confirm it; the place really is deserted. Several businesses that are normally open now either haven't bothered yet or have gone bust. You only need to look in the bars and tavernas at night and see the worried look on the owners' faces to know that all is far from well.

Not sure there is any one reason for this. Admittedly the Eurozone has become expensive for UK visitors. Last time I was here, I was getting not far short of €1.50. Also, people have less money since the credit crunch so I guess they are either not travelling at all or are going to non-euro countries. Whatever the reason, they certainly are not coming here!

The upside of this was highlighted by a man I met in a bar last night - please note that there are no sacrifices I am not prepared to undertake in my pursuit of a story! He was due to go to the USA in April but had his holiday cancelled by the dreaded ash cloud. Having taken a full refund, he booked himself into a "basic but clean" small local hotel within easy walking distance of the waterfront, courtesy of Olympic holidays.

Amazingly, two weeks has cost him and his wife the princely sum of £425 - yes, two weeks two people. He rang Monarch Airlines to enquire the price of two return flights. They quoted £410. So given that for his £425 he has the same flight, transfers from Corfu and B&B in the hotel, that looks like a pretty good deal to me. Other people booked a while back and are doing the same. They are paying considerably more and they don't look very happy about it.

So the message seems to be a lack of tourists is hitting the Greeks hard and there are desperate last-minute deals on offer. Good for us. Not so good if you are a Greek businessman.

Tomorrow,the view from the Taverna....