Just after that first post, I took off to the obligatory Greek island for a couple of weeks kicking around different kinds of lines in different kinds of sand. Heavenly.
Greek island church
But my, how times have changed! I spent my time on a larger island where I’ve been before, just four years ago, and the character has completely changed: everywhere you look there are Fur shops. Yes, fur. As in dead animal pelt. On an island where, when it gets really cold, you just maybe need to put a sweatshirt on.
Why? The Russians are here. In droves. And it’s really shifted the economic balance of the tourist trade. Their tourist behaviour is very different to their western European counterparts: they rarely seem to leave their hotels, but when they do they spend big. So the local economy has adapted… and how.
Of course, this has had a knock on effect elsewhere: the tavernas seemed very quiet for this time of year, as did some of the more out-of-the-way villages.
And, as a Brit at the hotel, I didn’t feel quite as VIP as I had previously… but frankly I can’t blame them for that: my spending habits were curtailed by the exchange rate being 20% worse (for me) than a year ago.
So where does this fit in Sandlines? Well, I’m not about to start fur-trading, but it does speak to the business of identifying changes in your customer patterns and responding quickly to them. The fur shops seemed to be doing very well… the ‘English Pubs’ less so.
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