Greece holidays at risk with island 'buckling' under 'huge surge' of UK tourists
Santorini is seeing a huge surge in tourists. European Union holiday hotspot Santorini is buckling under the pressure of tourism, as the number of airport arrivals skyrocketed in a massive blow to locals amid overtourism protests.
The Greek island managed to pull in a reported 3.4 million visitors a year, far outnumbering Santorini’s 20,000 or so permanent residents. As many as 17,000 cruise ship passengers surge onto the island on peak days in high season, heading straight to hot spots such as the capital Fira and the town of Oia on its northwestern tip, renowned for its spectacular sunsets.
Santorini Mayor Nikos Zorzos has proposed a cap on cruise ship passengers, down to 8,000 a day. It’s a move backed by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who told Bloomberg the measure is set for next year. “Overtourism doesn’t exist. What I see is a lack of structures,” Gianluca Chimenti, a local tour operator and a Santorini resident for 18 years, tells CNN Travel.
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Santorini registered 2,053,692 passengers, beating its popular neighbour Mykonos, which recorded 1,238,856 arrivals. Paros came second with 258,900, Naxos third with 88,930, and Milos fourth with 85,629 passengers.
“Recently, the growth of tourism in Greece has garnered significant attention, particularly concerning the islands of Santorini and Mykonos,” said Maria Deligianni, CLIA’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, in a statement.
“Santorini has one of the most important archaeological sites right now in Europe,” says Chimenti. “Why are cruise ships not organizing tours to the archaeological sites? If you split the people in three parts of the island, so at different times they are doing multiple things,” then he says, “they have time to enjoy and you will never have crowds in any part of the island.”
Protesters held one of the season’s most high-profile demonstrations in Barcelona in July.