Andros managed to achieve a miracle of development in the depth of a decade! With the core of the beautiful livelihood paths that run through the island, and with the significant boost of their European certification, the island is now a high-level visitor attraction, with an extended tourist season, maintaining its beauty and the quality of life of the residents. What more could a place ask for? A shining example to follow.

The path network of Andros currently covers around 240 km.

Olga Karagianni, who spearheaded the cleaning and certification effort, tells us:
“From the very first years of our efforts for the revival, care and certification of the paths there has been a significant promotion and increase in the number of hikers on our island. We broadcast an idea and our effort to implement it and this had a great impact. Dozens of publications highlighted the effort itself already before its completion.

The visibility was much stronger after receiving the European certification. The certification made Andros known internationally and placed it in the European “family” of destinations with top quality hiking infrastructure.

Many foreign travel organizations trusting the hiking infrastructure guaranteed by the certification designed and offer tourist packages for hiking in Andros, significantly increasing the flow of visitors. Now, the happy visitors themselves for hiking on our island are the most important ambassadors.

There have been and continue to be dozens of publications on an annual basis in the international and domestic press that place Andros among the top hiking destinations.

Recently and as we speak a new Guardian article about Andros hiking is about to be published. Undoubtedly, obtaining the certification played a central role in the process of establishing Andros as a hiking destination.

—Olga, what is the profile of visitors to your paths?
Hiking visitors are usually people with a genuine interest in the places they visit, with environmental sensitivity and motivation to learn about the history, nature, cultural heritage, past and present of the places they visit.

These are middle and high income people who usually stay for several days, they are good-natured people, with admiration for the local character, they prefer local products and seek out local gastronomy. In short, these people create ideal conditions for a place to benefit by making use of the special characteristics and heritage it already possesses. Hiking tourism strengthens both existing economic activities of accommodation, catering, trade and services, as well as the creation of new ones, such as escort services on routes and guided tours, visits and other experiences on the routes, luggage transfers, etc.
Andros, from the 2-month tourist season it had a few years ago, today has an extended season that reaches almost 6 months, while individual visitors can now be found all year round.

—How did the local community treat you in this effort?

I think in the first years of our effort we were treated somewhat as “romantics”. We passed the proposal by the Municipal Council, I remember how the Municipal Councilors looked at me… probably with sympathy! People were rather indifferent at first. It was a lonely initial journey… the early years of the markings saw no shortage of sign thefts and removal of signs…. I remember the first open action we organized, a maintenance hike in 2013 if I’m not mistaken, it was just me and one other person! I have these first photos. But as the project progressed, and we communicated the vision, more volunteers came to us and the group grew and gradually acted as a shield to protect and promote the idea and the whole vision. When the project was completed, the certification was obtained, after a lot of hard work by many people, Andros was heard from far away! As the first island in Europe with a certified hiking route. Apart from us who were directly involved, proud and emotional, I think the importance of this effort was felt by many Andriots after this development.

Today, everyone is talking about the paths, forgotten a few years ago, as a unique infrastructure that Andros has and significantly affects its tourism, beyond the summer months, bringing people in spring and autumn.

The news of Methana – Sheet 2 – HersoNisos Methana – Active Citizens