Two days before the great feast of the Virgin Mary, visitors from around the globe, including Australia, were found beginning to flock to one of the most historic pilgrimage sites of Orthodoxy, that being the Panagia Soumela Monastery on Mount Vermio.
Speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency’s radio station ‘Agency 104.9 FM’, Dimitris Mantzios (president of the Imathia Hoteliers’ Association) said:
“Panagia Soumela is a global pilgrimage for the Pontians – and others – and this year we have people in our region from every corner of the planet. In fact, it has been said for years now that due to the large influx of visitors, the ground in the area is ‘sinking’ by a few centimetres.”
Many visitors have already arrived in Imathia for this year’s great feast, having travelled great distances to get there.
“It is very pleasing that this year we have visitors from almost everywhere, even from India – these are Greeks who live and work there. They came as a small group staying at a hotel in the area,” Mantzios said.
“We also have visitors from Australia, the USA, England and several Dutch people. Many combine their visit to Panagia Soumela with a four or five-day vacation, which includes guided tours and excursions of the wider area.”
The president of the Imathia Hoteliers’ Association also noted that, traditionally, a large group from America also visits the region, having done so now for the past six to seven years.
“Religious tourism strengthens the region with significant ‘injections’ into the local economy in all sectors. It drives the entire economy. Tourism is a lever for growth and is a strong asset,” he said.
“Furthermore, it is important that the visitors who come every year have now developed a personal relationship with the hoteliers – they see them as friends, like the Greeks from America whom we, the hoteliers, know by their first names. In fact, they bring more and more of their friends to Imathia every year … from abroad.”
Source: AMNA
