The tourist resort of Alexandroupolis is struggling to rebuild from a disaster that destroyed property and drove away tourists.
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00:00 The scorched hillsides of northeastern Greece bear testament to the wildfires that gripped
00:06 the area for over a fortnight. What's less obvious on the surface is the impact on the
00:11 economy. In the resort of Alexandroupolis, residents and traders are counting the cost,
00:16 with up to 48% of the municipality's land affected.
00:20 "We are slowly gathering our losses from the records, both in building infrastructure,
00:27 in professional areas and in business activities. We are only taking in the houses, the main
00:34 and secondary homes that were burned. The fire took a number of areas with it, which are
00:39 linked to the production, to the primary sector and not only to Alexandroupolis."
00:45 The tourist trade was particularly hard hit, with thousands of cancellations, refunds and
00:50 forced departures.
00:54 It's been a devastating blow for businesses that rely on summer visitors.
01:01 "Alexandroupolis was a safe resort, an easy resort, for the Balkans, we are in the middle
01:08 of a market of about 50 million. You understand that this problem that was created, this situation,
01:15 will probably last for years, until the customer feels calm, feels confident that he will come
01:20 and find what was in Alexandroupolis, for the green, for the European Union, for the
01:25 seas, for its security."
01:29 Shops, cafes and restaurants were all forced to close and they reopened to find very few
01:34 customers in the resort.
01:36 "We are afraid for the future, because we are of the era, September is gone, mid-August
01:43 is gone. How will this be repaid?"
01:48 Residents, shopkeepers, businessmen of the tourism and the entertainment sector, emphasize
01:56 that the economic damage in Alexandroupolis is unimaginable after the huge environmental
02:01 disaster.
02:02 They say that things will be difficult, as they fear, for the next few years.
02:07 However, they hope that with the help of the state and their own great effort, everything
02:12 will finally go well and Alexandroupolis will rise anew.
02:16 From Alexandroupolis, for Euronews, Yiannis Karagiorgas.
02:21 [WHOOSH]