ATHENS, Greece - In less than four days, the party will end. The fountains at the bright new stadiums will turn off, the metal detectors will be packed away and the banners will come down. But businesses in Athens hope that even though the Olympics will soon finish, the coming months will be the beginning of a new era in tourism.

“Next year will be better,” said Maralena Klitsa, who works in the A+A Gallery in Athens oldest neighborhood. The store sells work by Greek artists and opened only two months ago hoping to cash in on the influx of Olympics visitors.

“We don’t know, we just hope. It happened in other places and we think it will happen here too,” she said.

Greece’s tourism industry is also upbeat about the prospects of a post-Games boom.

“The Games are running smoothly, everything is going smoothly, this has given Greece a good image," Yiannis Evangelou, head of the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies, told Reuters.

That “good image," seen on television screens around the world, is what travel agencies credit for a recent surge in tour bookings.

“We had a spike in reservations in the days after the opening ceremonies, and it is continuing to increase every day in terms of requests for next year,” said John Klados, vice president of sales and marketing for Homeric Travel, an American agency specializing in tours to Greece.

Still, the Olympics hasn't been all good for tourism. Down-to-the-wire construction, bad publicity, terrorism fears -- some local Athens businesses fear the bad press has impacted the start of the tourist season this year.  They report banking on a spike in tourism at the beginning of the summer, but were severely disappointed by a slump in June and July.

“Last year was much better,” said Stelios Theoharidis, the manager of Leather Corner, an Athens shoe store filled with shelves piled high with leather sandals and embroidered slippers. “Sales were down 30 to 40 percent in July.”

The success of the opening ceremony, last-minute travel deals and available tickets to sporting events helped convince many travelers to catch the end of the Olympics and locals say those dreary days at the start of the summer are long forgotten.

At the Swatch store, which opened only for August, business during the Games has been better than expected. The Olympic sponsor painted the street outside like a track and set up outdoor art exhibitions, helping contribute to the festive atmosphere in the city. Their work paid off. The store is almost always packed in the evenings and the temporary branch was selling around 150 watches a day.

On Saturday the Swatch store will move out, and on Monday the crowds that now fill the streets will begin to fill the airport. But permanent shops in the area deflect any negative talk that once the crowds leave the cash will leave with them.

“I try to keep my nerves calm,” Theoharidis said. “If the Greek government advertises and makes people want to come then it will be ok.”

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