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Post by artisans on Aug 9, 2016 11:29:49 GMT 2
It’s amazing how no two years are ever the same. The mix of tourists in Roda this month is different to previous Augusts. I think there are less Greek & Italians in the mix, but yet the village does seem to be very busy. Not only is it the mix, but people’s habits seem to have changed ... most seafront businesses seem busier, but some less so. Clearly preferences & habits are changing and we need to keep pace with them. Also, the times when the village is busy seems to be unpredictable, as do the days. It is a very cosmopolitan place these days, and it will be interesting to see how the village adapts to these changes. One good thing is that most businesses are having a reasonably good summer - let’s see what September brings.
Steve
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David and Paula 2012
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Post by David and Paula 2012 on Aug 16, 2016 12:09:18 GMT 2
Costa's in Roda park served the other night British Hungarian Russian Slovakian French German Italian who are stopping in villa
However the honour he said was serving Spanish.
That's changes he said unfortunately not as many Brits coming now that was his opinion
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Post by kathwebber on Aug 17, 2016 11:25:00 GMT 2
To be honest, the local business owners wont be bothered who is frequenting their establishments so long as they are paying for stuff.
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Post by artisans on Aug 17, 2016 17:14:46 GMT 2
Exactly, Kath - but isn’t that the point? If our businesses don’t respond to other nationalities, and they can’t find somewhere that suits and welcomes them, the restaurants, perhaps, and the bars in particular, will suffer as visitors buy food & drink to take back to their self-catering apartments. Putting a bottle of Russian vodka on the shelf is not going to bring them in - it needs a more proactive approach.
Steve
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David and Paula 2012
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Post by David and Paula 2012 on Aug 19, 2016 20:54:00 GMT 2
The local businesses are concerned they say we drink and eat some of the other countries people eat and go. Achavari had that problem 17 years ago. We've been here watching Italian fortnight and there is loads of them and doing simply that. That's their culture and the restaurants are full which is good but as I speak in Crusoe's at 9.50 pm people are heading back along the road. Been in all the pubs ha they all say the same. Just to finish we've eat in Venus (Charlie's) so another one off the bucket list
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pete sant
Roda Anorak
Roda Riddler 2008
UNITED - NOT ARROGANT - JUST BETTER
Posts: 6,977
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Post by pete sant on Aug 20, 2016 7:51:44 GMT 2
Every bar owner is concerned this year, the eastern Europeans all seem to be enjoying the tribute acts at Oscars, dancing & singing away, videoing the acts - all from the pavement outside!!! - when asked if they would like a table or a drink they quickly walk away!! 3 or 4 or the apartment owners I have talked to are not happy with their "new" guests either, tales of 5 people booking accommodation and 10 turning up, buying drinks at the supermarkets and asking at the pool bar for the bottles to be opened!!! ordering one meal and sharing it between 4 of them, one apartment owner is changing his travel operator because their clients do not spend one cent at his pool bar, the list goes on. It's all very well parading up & down the seafront for 2 hours each night but they are not spending any money, a family of 7 bought one ice cream at Big Ben's the other night and I saw them walk past 6 times, these people are no use to Roda, they stand outside watching the sport on t.v. then leave when asked if they want serving. Yiannis at G.P. supermarket told me he is sick of the Roumanians coming into his shop 4 or 5 times a day, walking around and buying nothing, stealing what they can!!!!! There is a thread on the Corfu Grapevine on facebook at the moment that has over 100 comments on it, most of which are horror stories about "foreign" visitors. Cosmopolitan it may look but if there is no money going into the tills I fear for the future of some of the bars & restaurants. pete.
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Post by kathwebber on Aug 20, 2016 8:25:06 GMT 2
What you describe above Pete is very worrying. I must say I have huge concerns for our friends in Roda from next year onwards with the brexit implications becoming more clear and preventing some people from booking holidays in the EU and perhaps taking their money elsewhere or even holidaying in the UK where their money may "go farther" - hope I'm wrong but your post above is food for thought.
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Post by artisans on Aug 20, 2016 10:52:18 GMT 2
“We only want British customers!” – a comment that has frequently been made by many in Roda for the last ten years. But not only do we now have Booking.com & Tripadvisor Smart Deals, but Greece is in Europe and the UK has voted itself out. Our hotels and apartments are the driving force behind who visits Roda and, being at the mercy of the major UK tour operators, they have turned to these online sources of business. Are we saying that they are wrong to do so?
Trip Advisor alone – new on the bookings scene, has 22 venues listed in Roda and Booking.com has more. A look at their website will show you how many people are booking this way. These listings are on the world-wide-web and this is why we are getting visitors from as far away as Chile. Take a look at the apartment blocks along St. George’s Bay and you will find many that have been virtually abandoned in previous years, are full this year. Some have even built swimming pools and the beach is busier than ever. With the easing of the troubles in the Balkans, many European visitors can now drive here – we even see Russian registration plates around. A lot of them have very little in the way of disposable income, but they can now have a holiday. It’s only like the Brits driving to a caravan in Rhyl because they can’t afford a hotel.
Dave & Paula’s recent post gave a clear indication of the spectrum of nationalities at Roda Park recently, and they are here for the Greek Experience, not a bar calling itself ‘Big Ben.’ If they want to visit British bars, they will go to Britain, if they want haute cuisine, they’ll go to France and for a good pasta dish, it’s got to be Italy.
The signs have been around for years as we have seen a steady succession of bar closures – places like the George & Dragon, British Bulldog, Splendor Bar, Vibe, The Crown and, more recently, Mistral. Did no one notice what was happening? Maybe there is only room for one dedicated British bar in the village - seeing how they fight it out will be interesting. Has anyone seen the sheer volume of cocktails being bought this year, often by our newer visitors. Maybe the reason they don’t go in to certain bars is that they just don’t want cut-price beer. At least fifteen years ago, when the Brits ruled Roda, some establishments were charging extra for fridges in their rooms because we, the Brits, were buying supermarket beers and drinking them on our balconies. What’s new?
I have always been amazed at the time of the night when the British eat their meals – some swallowing the lot by 6pm so they can get on with the drinking. Our new visitors have a totally different philosophy, as anyone who has visited other southern European countries may have noticed. The ‘paseo’ is a leisurely evening stroll that goes on for a few hours until everyone is ready for a late dinner … I think we may be confusing this important part of their cultures for something else.
Of course, some of the businesses are worried – they have suddenly been given a market they don’t understand. Naturally they are concerned, but more about their own ability, or preparedness, to adapt. It’s obvious that they want the market back that they do understand, but it ain’t going to happen! On top of everything else, the Brexit vote has seen to that. Clearly, the businesses here that stick doggedly to the British dream will be the first to suffer, but the ability to adapt is no longer a choice – it has to be done, and done soon.
Naturally, as might be expected, it is our younger people who are showing us the way, and this summer has seen many of our businesses packed to the gunnels. All along the seafront, from The Boathouse to Afroditi, there are only two or three businesses that are doing less well than before and, if they are to survive, they need to be asking themselves why that is. If they don’t survive, then it opens the door for people with more vision, and that must be a good thing. It’s a daunting task to respond to the realisation that you have to change – to be forced into taking action - to shift from what you already know (and have become comfortable with) to venturing into the unknown. Let’s hope that all these people who are complaining are up to the job.
King Canute couldn’t hold back the tide, and neither can we …
Steve
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Post by kathwebber on Aug 20, 2016 11:16:18 GMT 2
What a sweeping statement! The British like to eat by 6pm then go on the drink - you certainly have a knack of insulting people on here. We are 4 Brits who definitely do not fit that pigeonhole! You may as well just come out and say you hate Crusoe's and Big Ben's and all that choose to go there. You say businesses need to understand why they are doing less well - I wonder whether you have noticed how quiet this forum is nowadays and understand the reasons for this - people are moving with the times and migrating to Facebook etc., where they are met with far less condescending opinions than they are here. I'm afraid that's me done on here - I'm off!
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Post by artisans on Aug 20, 2016 11:57:21 GMT 2
Kath – I can only talk here in generalities and there are always people who are different. When the British move out of the restaurants to go to their quizzes, bingo & tribute acts, many of the continentals, including the Greeks, move in. Pixida, for example, starts to fill up at around 11pm – O Arabas doesn’t really start serving until 8:30, but can be full by 11pm - even the new Ammos grill room reaches its peak at around 9pm.
What I like, or dislike, has not been discussed, I’m simply trying to bring into focus in public forum, what, in my observation, is going on. The forum is not a business, it’s a platform for your opinions. Facebook has filtered out much of the gossip we used to see and that can only be good – it leaves us with the real issues.
Steve
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Post by saint on Aug 20, 2016 12:05:10 GMT 2
well, i guess you dont agree with the last poster[ARTISAN] ,neither do i i eat my evening meal at the same time as if i were at home then i walk round and have a drink , a chat with alex ,george .spiros and jonathon.we only visit a few bars because of jackies limited mobility ,watch sport ,rugby listen to the music [not trbute acts ] generally enjoy ourselves ,i thought that was what i was supposed to do ,iam on holiday .what is a dedicated "briish bar " is it PIRATES,CRUSOES ,HARBOUR BOATHOUSE.Travel to other med resorts SPAIN MALTA PORTUGAL they all have the same bars with the same names. most of the posters on here and kathwebber is right ,it is declining frequent the same bars when theytake their holiday anyway .many years ago late august was regarded as when italian tourists visted corfu not in may not in june or july most viitors were brits in these months and returnees at that ,just athought ,wonder how many of our balkan visitors will return, pete is right just to many are walkers not buyers
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Post by lisydaly on Aug 20, 2016 12:30:54 GMT 2
And there are lots of Brits like us, who enjoy a leisurely meal at about 7pm, sitting talking in the restaurant when the meal is over, finishing with a drink and a stroll to whatever bar we feel like going in - not, I might add, Brit bars where you have to know sign language as the music is so loud you can't hear yourself think, or there is a quiz on etc. which drives me up the wall. I can get that at home in the pub. And we are guilty of finishing the night sat on the balcony with a glass or two. Each to their own - it's a holiday, it's meant to be enjoyed and restful, not a competition to see who can win a free breakfast because they know the answers to some stupid questions or can mime their way through tribute acts. Have to agree with Steve - visit other European countries and the culture is very different - and they don't pander to visitors tastes, they are true to their own nationalities. Spain, Malta and parts of Portugal are predominately British tourist countries, but even they are changing. When we lived in France there was an 'Irish' bar in the local town, which was Irish only in it's name (no idea why). At 1.00 a.m. everybody just put their empty glasses on the bar and wandered out and home - it's the French way. Apart from one night, when six English people were struggling to finish their drinks and the bar owner plonked another round down with a big grin and a 'cie la vie!' We left at about 3 a.m. with everybody happy, but that was an exception. Roda has to change from being 'English' and go back to what it used to be - Greek, with the Greek traditions and Greek dancing, not Romanian versions of Elvis or Abba.
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David and Paula 2012
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Post by David and Paula 2012 on Aug 20, 2016 19:26:51 GMT 2
Live from Big Ben reporting ha - the beach front today was choca block. I mean from 9 onwards full of families with young babies til the locals came at 5 to swim. Noticeable was their own massive cool boxes so I asked Yannis you been busy my boy with them? He said only with Brits. Just to clarify my point I made earlier the people who are here want the SSS sun sea and supermarkets that's our impression. Vassili's who speaks fluent Italian in the Old House asked a party who were eating told him they come as its cheap and safe and more will come in years to follow. A couple we know who've been coming here for 37 years went to a place I'm lead to believe called Glyfada - all Italians wall to wall sunbeds,cudnt move on the beach. Wait for this
30 euros a set of sunbeds 8.90 for a pint (PS 3 /4 full).
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Post by saint on Aug 20, 2016 20:33:39 GMT 2
sorry lisydaly i have to disagree ,in the last 3 years i have visited the med resorts and they still pander to the brit culture ,i cannnot agree with artisans if the bar owners change their attitude towards customer culture they will definitely fail it is definetly different to actually living i n the resort as vistitng it once or twice a year as pete sant may or not like to comment on
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Post by Bev on Aug 21, 2016 10:39:27 GMT 2
I am a former forum member who resigned due to be attacked for different views from long time members but I do still read. We have been coming to Roda for 9yrs now. I wanted the Greek life, not just Sun. I was horrified at the number of British bars. Never been in Big Ben,Crown and a few others. I loathe bingo, quizzes, tributes. We eat late, rarely before 9pm. In the years we have seen a decline in certain businesses due to lack of changing to suit the clientele. I know there is a certain element of tourists who try to go as cheap as possible but don't the Brits who go self catering mostly do it to save money by cooking in their rooms and then wander out for a drink and or ice cream. The most cosmopolitan place I have visited and was busy was Skiathos, it had only one British Bar which never seemed busy. The British love Skiathos too. Before I get told why don't I go there instead, I love Roda, I call it my happy place but it has to embrace change. Not to completely change what it offers in the way of what we love but what it offers all cultures.
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