Athens starts to see results from Olympic investment

[Fiona]

One year after the 2004 Olympics, host city Athens is still in the red but its mayor says a steady influx of tourists will soon help pay off the deficit.

"The Athens Olympics left a great legacy for the city of Athens. It was very important for us - it left us with a new and badly needed infrastructure," said Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis yesterday during a press conference while in town for the Seoul World Mayors Forum 2005.

Even though Athens invested over 137 billion won ($132 million) in the Olympic Games, the result was an increase in tourism of 16 percent this year and it is expected to increase over the next 10 years.

"Athens was always on the tourist map but the last few years, people flew over Athens to the Greek islands and didn't visit the city ... This is the first year that we have seen a clear increase in tourism," she said.

During the Olympic Games, Athens had to invest heavily in security for the whole city. Being the first Olympic Games after 9/11, it proved to be very costly with the security bill hitting over 1.2 trillion won ($1.2 billion).

"At least now we are seen as one of the most secure places and we have a lot of different conferences of people coming that are interested in security," she said.

Bakoyannis had only 18 months to transform her city for the Olympics. During that time, many media reports speculated that the city would not be ready in time for the opening ceremony. Facing the criticism, Bakoyannis held 375 interviews to assure the world that her city would be ready to welcome the world.

Besides being in town for the Mayor's Forum she will also sign a Protocol of Friendship Cooperation with Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak which both cities hope will bring in many exchanges.

"Big cities face more or less the same problems. It's always very interesting to see the solutions that other cities have found and used, so the protocol between Seoul and Athens is the starting point for a much closer cooperation on both fields," she said.

Dora, as she is known in the international Greek community, is the first woman to ever hold the post after winning the mayoral elections by a larger majority than any mayor in Athens' history. She is also the first woman to serve as a mayor of an Olympic host city.

Korea Herald