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Shortly before Easter hotel keepers are clearly optimistic that they would be able to fill their rooms during the holidays. They are glad that each day the interest of people who will escape somewhere around the country, hoping to relax and enjoy their vacation, is growing.

But the most fearful enemies of the people in the tourist business are the increases in the prices of fuel and ferry fares, reports Ta Nea newspaper. This makes the Greeks think well whether they would celebrate Easter away from their homes. It is certain for now that the situation for the hotels on the island of Patmos is better than last year as 60% of the hotel beds are already booked, but the high fares for the ferries remain an "open wound".

"The shipping company, which connects Patmos with the port of Piraeus not only increased the ticket prices, but travels longer to the port," says the hotel keeper Anna Romeo. This year the tickets prices are higher by about 10% and the shipping companies increased the prices for all destinations due to the increase in the price of the fuel for ferries by about 40%. The tickets for cars fell by 4% and the prices for booking а room on the ships did not increase.

On the other hand, many hotel keepers saw that there were tourists during the three-day holiday on the occasion of the National Day of Greece on the 25^th of March and hope that they will have customers during the Easter holidays. Yannis Vasilakos - hotel keeper in the region of the Plastiras Lake - says that the local hotels were overcrowded and did not manage to serve 10% of the tourists. But hotel keepers from inside the country, in turn, are worried that the high price of gasoline, which is over 1.70 euros per litre, could adversely affect tourism.
 
But to attract tourists hotel owners have reduced the prices by 25% in some cases. "We could not proceed otherwise in such a severe economic situation," they say. According to the representative of hotel keepers in the area of Arachova Yannis Georgakos, a double room in a three-star hotel including breakfast cost between 80 and 120 euros last year at Easter, while this year the prices for a room in the same category start from 60 euros. Indicative is the example of Karpenissi where hotel keepers are determined to lower the prices by even 50% if the prospects from the beginning of the week are not good.

Among the most wanted destinations are Chios, Corfu, Kalamata, Arachova and the island of Ydra, which obviously will be completely full during the holidays. Over 70% of the beds in the resorts there are already booked. Compared with last year, the interest to the island of Ydra is stronger and 90% of the beds are booked this year. Corfu is also expected to be filled with tourists who will be curious to see the local custom on the Saturday before Easter, when large and small pots from windows and balconies are thrown. The first tourists from the far Scandinavian countries have already arrived in Crete, and especially in the picturesque Chania, according to a report in Ta Nea newspaper.