Ithaca hopes Odyssey film will bring tourism boom

Ithaca businesses and officials are hoping Christopher Nolan's Odyssey film will draw more visitors to the Greek island long associated with Odysseus.

The island, in the Ionian Sea off western mainland Greece, has about 3,000 inhabitants and is not usually among Greece's main tourist hubs. Local interest has risen since the film's worldwide release on July 16, even though no scenes were shot on Ithaca.

Ithaca Mayor Dionysis Stanitsas said the publicity was “tremendous” but said he was disappointed the production did not film on the island. He said the island had already been fully booked for the season by the time the film came out and expected more people to plan trips next year.

Xhimi Xoxha, who runs a restaurant in the capital, Vathi, said the movie was already generating publicity for Ithaca and predicted the effect would continue.

Visitors will not find a confirmed palace of Odysseus or a major archaeological site proving the Homeric hero's existence. But statues, boat names, shops and local landmarks lean heavily on the island's literary and mythological links, including places associated by legend with Odysseus's return.

Archaeologist Spyros Couvaras said renewed interest was being driven by the film, but added that the deeper draw was Homer and the island's mythology.