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Almost three years ago, the small harbour in Skiathos was full of excitement and expectation as film crews descended on the town to film part of what would become one the biggest box office hits of the following year: Mamma Mia!

When they won the Eurovision song contest in 1974, ABBA started on a career that would span the next thirty five years and even today is still going strong. The four original members of the band that became the fourth best selling music artists ever (behind The Beatles, Elvis and Michael Jackson) have sold over 370 million records during this period and are now enjoying the additional fame of film and theatrical successes. Mamma Mia! the musical first opened in London in 1999 and experienced such amazing worldwide success that a movie deal was struck and filming started in 2007. This is when the worldwide awareness of Skiathos suddenly received an amazing boost.

Stars of the film, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, together with a full film crew took over the harbour area of Skiathos town for three days to film a scene where the two men race to the harbour in old taxis only to miss the boat they were trying to catch. The boat, known as a Kaiki, then sails out across the sunny picturesque bay, leaving viewers with a very favourable impression of the location on this pretty Greek island. Additional scenes were filmed on the nearby island of Skopelos.

To say that the film has done the old port of Skiathos a favour would depend on who you spoke to. Three years on and the traders and hotel owners in the area probably still can't believe their luck; for just a few hours of inconvenience, their businesses have benefitted from free worldwide publicity. But for the other residents of this quiet little town, perhaps this new found attention and boost in visitor numbers may be all a little too much.