MYKONOS, Greece — Wealthy tourists descended from luxury hotels into the glittering maze of Mykonos’ historic Old Town one recent night, admiring gold jewelry and heading to bars offering pricey bottles of Veuve Clicquot. Tourists sailing the Aegean on 15-deck cruise ships entered boutiques for a day of wild shopping.
Along the island’s coast, exclusive beach clubs expanded their restaurants, preparing for the influx of billionaires, celebrities and influencers. With more than 2 million visitors a year, Mykonos is one of the world’s leading holiday destinations and a source of prosperity in Greece’s economic revival.
Since Greece’s decade-long financial crisis ended in 2018, the country’s recovery has been fueled by tourism and investment. Investors have poured into Mykonos, eager to cash in on luxury property development, sprawling hotels and high-voltage nightclubs for the deep-pocketed crowds.
But recently a darker side emerged amid the glamour, when a state archaeologist who had been documenting building code violations on the island was mysteriously attacked. The bureaucrat, Manolis Psarros, 53, was left unconscious with a broken nose, fractured ribs and black eyes in a beating that shocked all of Greece.
Nowhere has the backlash been fiercer than in Mykonos, where locals have long whispered about illicit and sometimes assertive activity by wealthy developers, and a lax oversight system they say allows anyone with enough money operates above the law. Now the government has cracked down.
“The situation in Mykonos has gotten out of control,” said Despina Koutsoumba, director of the Association of Greek Archaeologists. “The attack on Psarros was a mob-style hit designed to intimidate. It is clear that the interests of large companies are at stake”.
Police are investigating the attack, which occurred one night in March outside Psarros’s home in Athens.
Mykonos is one of the most important places in Greece for antiquities. Neighboring Delos, an ancient sanctuary of the god Apollo and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is often teeming with travelers from all over the world.
To preserve these treasures, archaeologists from the Ministry of Culture survey the land before new structures are built. Twelve ancient sites were discovered in eight years on Mykonos during excavations for building foundations, halting work in some cases and forcing relocation in others.
Psarros had reported several violations in Mykonos before being attacked. He was scheduled to testify about them in a November trial that was delayed, the latest in a series of postponements since 2018.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has taken steps to restore order. Last month, the government ordered the closure of one of Mykonos’s beach clubs for construction violations, and recently ordered the partial closure of another. There have been more than 75 arrests related to illegal buildings, compared to 36 arrests in all of 2022.
The government has suspended most new building permits on parts of the island pending the completion of a new zoning plan. And the Greek Supreme Court prosecutor has ordered further investigations into the illegal construction, describing the situation in Mykonos as “deplorable.”
However, the real estate dispute does not seem to have tarnished its appeal. Mykonos was packed with visitors from the United States, France and China before the high season.
“It is an international destination,” said Konstantinos Koukas, Mayor of Mykonos. “It is the star island of Greece.”
By: LIZ ALDERMAN and NIKI KITSANTONIS
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6740840, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-06-01 14:00:09
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