Tourists from across the globe are diving into the deep blue to explore a new underwater museum in Greece, the first of its kind in the country.
Lying just off the coast of Alonissos, part of the Sporades group of islands, the underwater museum is attracting guests from Europe and the US.
Although it opened in 2020, it was largely off limits due to the global pandemic and the Covid-19 restrictions. But as Greece opened up for tourists this summer, the underwater museum began garnering interest from people keen to experience something different.
Divers now have the opportunity to explore the museum, where mounds of 2,500-year-old wine pots mark the site of an ancient shipwreck.
According to reports from Greece, more wrecks have been discovered in the area, with many expecting that to mean that more such museum sites will become available to visitors soon.
Because there is a great deal of technical difficulty involved in the dive, it is only open to experienced divers.
Greek authorities have made diving a key part of their strategy to attract visitors since legislation passed in 2020 making it possible to access such sites, Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis told AFP.
“This is a type of tourism that attracts people all year round, a special audience that pays generously to dive,” he said, adding that 10 new diving parks are ready to be licensed under the process provided for by the legislation.
