ARTE Re: Refugees instead of Tourists – Can Lesbos Still Be Saved?

Tourists are shunning the island of Lesbos. Reports about abysmal conditions in refugee camps and the resulting riots are casting a very different light on the Greek holiday island. Fevronia Kantartzis, a medical doctor, tries to help those people who face an existential crisis because tourists are staying away. She pays their electricity bills and brings aid to the village of Vrissa, destroyed by an earthquake.

The head of the chamber of tourism is planning a new image campaign for Lesbos. She intends to build upon the island’s negative publicity and turn it into an advantage. Tour operators are to offer more trips to Lesbos once again. But as long as the European Union does not allow the refugees currently stranded on the island to move on, an escalation is inevitable. Almost 10,000 refugees now live penned up in an area of just one square kilometre.