Greek Businesses Fear Switch From Euro to Drachma ATHENS - For the last couple of weeks, the phone at Tasos Ioannidia's five-star hotel on the breezy island of Mykonos has been ringing steadily, but not with the types of inquiries he wants to field. "Because of the complete instability of the political system, people are saying they don't want to confirm a stay or make deposits," said Mr. Ioannidia, who owns the luxurious Belvedere Hotel, perched on a cliff over the Aegean Sea. They are afraid of what could happen to their money if Greece leaves the euro and returns to the drachma. Worries that Greece might default on its debts or even leave Europe's currency union have deepened since May 6, when Greeks voted in shocking numbers for a left-wing party willing to tear up Greece's $170 billion international bailout agreement. These days, even though 80 percent of Greeks say they want to stay with the euro, talk of "drachmageddon" can be heard in conversations all around Athens - in executive suites, at mom-and-pop shops and even in nightclubs, where heated debates over the pros and cons of a return to the old currency rise above a throbbing beat. "A return to the drachma would be a nightmare," said Mr. Ioannidia, whose bookings began to trail off a few months ago and slumped badly after the election. It would create a panic for businesses and also for people wanting to do business with Greece. Any departure from the euro, if it did occur, would not come quickly, even if a new government repudiates Greece's bailout terms; orchestrating an actual exit would be legally complicated and lengthy. European leaders may also move to prevent a Greek default or exit at the 11th hour, considering the almost unending uncertainties tied to Greek exit. But these days, few people are taking chances. Big tourism operators like TUI of Germany and Kuoni of Britain are demanding the addition of so-called drachma clauses to contracts with Greek hoteliers should the euro no longer be in use here. British newspapers are filled with advice columns for travelers worried about the wisdom of planning a vacation in Greece, or even Portugal and Spain, should the euro crisis worsen. Large multinational companies like Vodafone Group, Reckitt Benckiser and Diageo have taken to sweeping cash every day from euro accounts back to Britain to limit their exposure. Even the European Investment Bank, the European Union bank which makes loans to companies across Europe, is hedging by insisting on contingency language in deals with Greek enterprises. But coming up with a Plan B is proving difficult for Greek businesses, especially smaller ones. There are so many unknowns involved that many of them cannot even conceive of how they would cope. Economists say the drachma would be devalued by an estimated 50 to 70 percent compared to the euro. Even if Greece adopted a parallel, free-floating currency that allowed it to stay within the euro zone, that money would also be sharply devalued. "How do you prepare for the Apocalypse?" asked Dimitrios Manolis, the owner of AlfaSolid, a small company that makes design software. He has had to whittle his staff of six engineers down to two, as firms he did business with have collapsed amid a credit squeeze. "If Greece leaves the euro, there will be no work for me," he said. Dimitris Mamoglu, the owner of a fine jewelry store near Syntagma Square since 1972, said small businesses had "absolutely no plans" to handle a return to the drachma. "Nobody can calculate how much money or time it would take to change over," he said. Maybe big businesses can do something, but the small-business man is like a sitting duck. Tens of thousands of Greek businesses could collapse from one day to the next, said Constantine Mihalos, the president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Around 85 percent of Greek companies employ fewer than 10 people, and many are already teetering on bankruptcy as the Greek economy nose-dives and bank credit dries up. With a devalued currency, inflation would rise rapidly, and Greek companies would struggle to pay the euro-denominated bills of their suppliers and employees before simply declaring bankruptcy. Trade with other countries would slow sharply for a while, as suppliers halted deliveries, further crippling Greek businesses that depend heavily on imports.