#vikhos

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New National Strategy for Rural Tourism Bring Visitors to Greece's Mountains

The Ministry of Tourism is setting up a task force to come up with concrete proposals to help develop tourism in the country’s more rural mountainous areas. The goal is to attract tourist interest all year round, while keeping the principles of sustainability and respect for the environment at the forefront of these plans.

The development of the tourist industry across mountainous mainland Greece and the problems faced by hoteliers in these regions were the focus of a virtual conference that included representatives of the hospitality industry and Deputy Minister of Tourism Sofia Zaharaki. The deputy minister assured the hospitality professionals that every available financial support would be used in order to strengthen Greece’s natural advantages in “mountain” tourism, and to further leverage this advantage by developing safe, modern facilities.

Zaharaki noted that although Greeks live in a mostly a mountainous country, the third largest such nation in Europe, and although they’re blessed with a particularly beautiful natural environment and a rich folklore of rural traditions, the tourism potential of these mountainous areas is still, unfortunately, rather undeveloped. She also highlighted that the government is now investing in developing and promoting tourism in these areas to stimulate the economy and to maximize all of the country’s forces of production.

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Vikos Gorge: Greece's Grand Canyon (video)

It is known as “Greece’s Grand Canyon,” and its dizzying cliffs are a wonder of the natural world in Greece. Although in depth it does not rival the American canyon, which is more than six thousand feet deep, Vikos Gorge is one of the most lovely and verdant ravines in the country, with a depth exceeding 490 meters (1,500 feet).

Part of the Pindus Mountains of Epirus in northern Greece, the gorge lies on the southern slopes of Mount Tymfi, with a length of about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles), a depth ranging from 120 to 490 meters, and width ranging from 400 meters to only a few meters at its narrowest point.

It has many impressive vertical geological formations with a wide variety of different microecosystems, as well as an abundance of flora and fauna which live in one of the few remaining natural wildlife sanctuaries in Europe.

The calcareous formations of Vikos, which formed 37 to 150 million years ago, now cover most of the gorge at an altitude of between 550 (1,659 feet) and 1777 meters (5,700 feet). The Voidomatis River, which for millennia has carved its path along the bottom of the gorge, has running water from November through June.