Day Trippers !

[fatcat]

Day trippers, bit of a sensitive subject on here, but hey – what the hell.

From my perspective, the day trippers do bring something to the island, they bring an opportunity for restaurant and shop owners to make a bit more cash with an increase in passing traffic it’s up to the owners to grab this opportunity and make the most of it.
They know when they are coming so it’s not as if they have been caught ‘napping’.
Yes, of course they have no direct impact on ‘our holiday’ as we spend 99.5% of our time on our terrace and very seldom visit the other beaches and so the crowding on the beaches has no impact at all on our enjoyment.

Whats the answer ? – I wish I knew….

Now the island has a ‘bus service’ that could be used to promote other beaches like Chania + others much further afield.

Just my 2p worth.

[Deleted]

Fat Cat I agree with you; the day trippers are a necessary evil,after all why should Halki not profit as do Symi Tilos and Nissyros from the extra income.
What does need to happen is for the trips to be structured better with whoever is organising them but like you I can't think of a solution although the bus could be an option

[carol]

This one will probably be discussed until we all return next year but as someone who spends every day at Ftenagia we saw very little if any evidence of the daytrippers spending money either in the taverna or on sunbeds.Obviously there were fewer of them there than at Pondamos but they mostly brought their food with them and sat on towels. More worrying were the amount of people we spoke to that said they would not return to Halki again due to the state of the beach at Pondamos and the fact they were packed in like sardines every day over there. This added to the fact that flight prices have increased enormously must surely be of some concern to those on the island that rent their properties.

[Deleted]

Fatcat, your views on the day trippers spending habits are held by many. Regrettably, in the case of Halki, it is simply not true. The very large percentage proceed to Pondamos where they undoubtedly spend. A very small number frequent one taverna on the harbour. The other outlets, bars and shops don't benefit all. It is an increasing problem it would seem.

[fatcat]

I think that there may be 2 issues here, 1 is the ‘they don’t spend’ issue and the other is ‘beach overcrowding’.

On the ‘they don’t spend’ issue, it really should be up to the bars and restaurants to entice them in (maybe the same way they entice us to watch their TV’s……….)., they have a stream of day trippers that walk almost past their front door – why are they not doing something to grab a part of it ?
I was told this year that the guy who operated the boat who brought over the DT’s to to Halki had fallen out with people over his operations, how much of this is true – I do not know, but if he is bringing in DT’s then the bar and restaurant owners should (if they want to) be taking advantage of this.
Is the beach at Pondamos dirty through overcrowding or dirty through beach litter. Maybe the town council should introduce more litter bins on the beach, or make Pondamos ‘Parasol & sunbed’ only and make ‘all’ visitors pay, this may keep numbers down but will upset the ‘beach towel’ brigade.
Upgrading beaches further afield may also help the congestion or even promoting the new floating pontoon at the hotel, it is early days with the DT’s, it all depends what the island wants, maybe the island prefers the ‘old’ ways and not embracing the influx of DT’s and leaving the beaches dirty is their way of saying ‘we don’t want them’…………..

[lisa]

I must second what Carol has said. The day trippers that visited Ftenagia certainly did'nt part with any of their dosh! As much as I don't like to see Halki being 'invaded' I do think that daytrippers are a good thing for the local economy if their companies stop providing them with packed lunches. ;D

[Liz]

I think its a double edged sword ..the people who go to Halki for the peace and quiet love it for what it is ..the buisnesses want to make as much as they can while they can ( make hay -sunshining and all that ) BUT it is having an impact on the people on Holiday there ...I'm sure someone on here said they actually returned to their villa because of the DT's ( not the shakey type either ;D ) now thats fine if you've got a terrace overlooking the water but if that were me I'd be well miffed ....no one wants to deny the peeps of Halki of a living but as said before there must be a happy medium somewhere

[lisa]

Let's hope so. I'm all in favour of a happy medium. ;D

[j90]

This is a strong thread that's not going to go away. This year was our 12th consecutive year on Halki after 'giving up' on Symi. We were so pleased to find Halki, it was exactly what we were looking for! However, this year we were particularly aware of the Day Trippers situation but were led to believe that it was only Wednesdays and not really 'too much of a problem'.

In fact it was every day and by lunchtime we were unable to access the Pondamos Taverna via the beach except via the sea. We went up the halfway steps in the wall and then across the bondue! Because the beach was so crowded day trippers had purchased bottles of water from the taverna and then utilized the tables and chairs as a base.

The litter on the beach was enormous and the shower was going non-stop!. Nickos at the taverna was not a happy man and despatched one of his sons to remonstrate with them regarding the waste of water. They just never turned it off after use and the nearby steps were like a waterfall. We heard that Ftenagia was rarely frequented by the trippers and that negative comments were therefore coming largely from those who used Pondamos.

We thought about moving to Ftenagia but my wife likes the sand and is only happy in the shallows and furthermore if we all went to Ftenagia the regulars there would have become annoyed with the new overcrowding. It is a fact of life that Halki has limited sized local beaches and that normally Pondamos and Ftenagia had balanced numbers that were comfortable. The sudden influx of a 100 or so daily visitors has severely tested the system. It is common knowledge, supported by Halki vendors, that the trippers are not spending any money. If Halki had beaches the size of Tilos it would not be so much of a problem but the trippers would have to hire beachbeds from the hotels behind and eat at their lunchtime restaurants to be able to use their toilets. I suspect this is why they choose to come to Halki because there is no such restriction at Pondamos for anyone, which includes us!

For the 1st time in 12 years we are contemplating only doing a week on Halki next year and we will try and find another quiet reasonably accessible island for the second week. We will not abandon Halki because they do not deserve it and they have been wonderful to us ever since we found them. However, we do come to Halki for peace and quiet and we certainly did not get that this year plus the attendant TC problems from Gatwick.

It really saddens me to write this comment and I sincerely hope that someone with a magic wand will restore Halki to the ambience that so attracted us in the first place.

We departed Halki just before the sewage modifications started this year, Kiki's mother had still not returned to the island and in our opinion Avra still had the edge on the restaurants.

For anyone contemplating Kleanthe it is fine but it should be understood that there is only a partial sea view and, one must walk through the other bedroom to get to the toilet.

On our day of departure Alexsi was running a toosh late with the luggage collection for the ferry and temporarily forgot ours. I was about to go back but Jane said that Alexsi would get them. There were 3 of us and therefore 3 cases close to 60 kilos in all. Alexsi came running back from the alleyway alongside Theodosias with ALL 3 CASES under his arms. Astounding feat of strength. I must return to Halki if only to buy him a few beers!!

Finally, has anyone any knowledge of Fourni, there is very little on Tripadvisor. It's good to see many of the Halki regulars back on this new site. Well done to all the key 'movers 'n' shakers'.

j90

[carol]

Welcome j90 and thank you for your post, I certainly agree with you that something needs to be done, as I said previously we were relatively unaffected at Ftenagia apart from our first sunday when I began to feel hemmed in by people sitting on towels eating packed lunches !! We resolved the problem the second sunday by going to Alimnia to get away from the crush. It would be a great shame if Halki changed so much that those of us who have been visiting for years like you have decided to look elsewhere.

[Liz]

Hi j90 and welcome

I think you summed it up pretty well ...I'm more of Pondamos girl if the truth be known ..but the state of the beach and the overcrowding put me off on our last visit in 06.
We were there from August 20th this year and for our first week ..even Ftenagia was crowded !
In 06 the trippers where only wednesdays and so not too much of a bother but this year it was every day ..our second week was quieter.
This site does get quite a bit of traffic from Greece so hopefully some of the comments may filter back

[Di]

Even though it won't affect us next year as we're going somewhere else anyway, I must admit that if the number of day trippers continues then we'd probably think twice about returning to Halki, which is a shame. I also think that it's something the islanders are seriously going to have to address. Before anyone jumps in, I know that everyone's entitled to go on a day trip and those people staying on the island don't have the monopoly on the beaches, but the problem is that the beaches are tiny and can't cope with those numbers. At the end of the day, if people are put off going to Halki because you can't get on the beach for day trippers after 11.30 who's going to eat in the Tavernas and support the local economy once the day trippers have all gone home

[joanie]

It seems a shame j90 does'nt it,but I'm afraid more and more people are finding out about these beautiful islands ,and then it seems to spoil it a little when it gets too busy.I just had a look at Fourni it looks and sounds wonderful.Seems to be just up my street

[lisa]

Hi J90
I'm glad to hear that you won't be giving up on Halki altogether. Let's hope that someone waves that magic wand soon.

As for Alexsi, what a star. As with many of the locals, they never cease to amaze, which is one of the many reasons that we keep returning. Fingers crossed that the daytrippers don't!

[janeandtony]

Hi j90 it is so good to hear your views which we found very interesting. We have been going to Halki for only 5 years- not long in comparision to your 12!!! Please say hello to Neil from us as we used to meet him when he was having his breakfast at Nick's every morning. We have not been to Pondamas for a couple of years now so as Carole says we have not really been affected by the day trippers.
We, like Neil prefer Ftenagia and were sorry to hear about the problems at Pondamas.
Looking forward to next June ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D