Greek Island of Mykonos--Wealthy Anchorage in Sea of Tourist Dollars

In the summer, 30,000 tourists crowd onto this rocky Aegean island every day, putting its 4,000 residents on a hectic schedule catering to them--and putting money in the islanders’ pockets.

But when this sophisticated vacation resort shuts down for the winter, the islanders resume a leisurely Greek life style. Men play cards in the cafes when the weather turns too stormy for fishing. Women cook huge meals for family and friends.

“In the season, it’s so frenetic that my wife’s on tranquilizers and I’m too tired to talk to my friends,” hotelier Alecos Galounis said.

Mykonos, 34 square miles in area, is known for its cube-shaped white houses, whitewashed alleys, donkeys and thatched windmills. Its nudist beaches, gay bars and wild night life attract jet-setters of all nationalities.

A 25-year tourism boom has brought in hundreds of millions of dollars, making the resort the wealthiest of Greece’s 200 or so inhabited islands.

Retains Allure

Mykonians take Caribbean cruises in the winter, send their children to American universities and drink imported liquor.

The islanders say that although Mykonos now attracts too many visitors, it’s still essentially unspoiled.

“We get more than 550,000 tourists every year, far more than any other small Greek island,” Mayor Matthew Apostolou said in an interview. “It’s really too many. They choke the town in July and August, but how can we turn visitors away?

“We have real problems in summer with noise, traffic jams and garbage disposal. But if the island was losing its appeal, I don’t think people would still be streaming in.”

The island has 15 sandy beaches and about 200 restaurants, bars and discos and 15,000 beds in quaint hotels.

Some Sleep on Beaches

The mayor said that not all the tourists who come to Mykonos use hotel space. He estimated that about 5,000 on any given day sleep at campsites or on the beaches, while about 10,000 others stay aboard cruise ships or yachts.

“But almost everyone comes into town at dusk for the evening’s entertainment,” he added.

A 50% decline last year in American visitors to Greece cut down on cruise-ship arrivals at Mykonos. But larger numbers of Italians, Swiss, Japanese and Greeks came.

Mykonos’ reputation for carefree hospitality is said to date from the 1770s, when the island was held for four years by Russian forces fighting Ottoman Turkey.

“It was after the Russian period that Mykonos began to acquire its unique attitude to visitors,” said newspaper publisher Helen Vlachos, one of dozens of prominent Athenians who own homes on the island. “Mykonians don’t mind if you stay up all night, go around nude or dance in their churches.”

Organized tourism to Mykonos began in the 1930s when wealthy foreigners stopped off en route to a famous archeological site on the nearby island of Delos. It took off in the early 1960s as Mykonos became known as a place where celebrities could relax undisturbed.

Huge Profits

“There wasn’t any security then,” restaurateur Philip Kontizas said. “People like Jackie Kennedy just strolled around.”

Officially, Mykonos earns $21 million annually from tourism. But islanders say that about $63 million in undeclared income is stashed away every year in cash or in bank accounts outside Greece.

Real estate prices have soared. An old-fashioned two-room apartment overlooking the waterfront is offered for sale at $170,000. A modern vacation home near a beach can run more than $230,000.

The tourism boom also has stemmed a centuries-old tradition of migration from the island.

“Mykonos used to suffer from real poverty,” said Thodoros Fouskis, a fisherman turned bar owner. “People had to go to sea or find construction jobs in Athens. Tourism changed all that. Nobody leaves now.”