Greece’s plans to limit overtourism in popular spots – while luring luxury resorts to attract more – will see a 20-euro ($22.11) tax on cruise ship visitors going to the Mykonos and Santorini, but it wasn’t said if there would be a cap on arrivals.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has opened the country to tourist development almost everywhere, said at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) that he recognizes the strain on infrastructure in places like the two islands.
Santorini saw as many as 17,000 cruise ship passengers a day landing on the island this summer, further overwhelming its resources and buckling the water supply, the main sites of Oia and Fira being standing room only.
The island has only about 16,000 permanent residents but could get 4 million tourists this year – four years after businesses practically begged people to come when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and kept them away.
But despite the complaints, Mitsotakis insisted that “Greece does not have a structural overtourism problem… Some of its destinations have a significant issue during certain weeks or months of the year, which we need to deal with.”
He said “Cruise shipping has burdened Santorini and Mykonos and this is why we are proceeding with interventions,” he added, with Santorini Mayor Nikos Zorzos wanting limits on how many ships can anchor off the island.
Mitsotakis said that only part of the new tax revenues would go to the islands to be invested in infrastructure but didn’t say how much nor where the rest of the money would go or if development would be limited too.
The government plans to regulate the number of cruise ships that arrive simultaneously at certain destinations, while rules to protect the environment and tackle water shortages will be imposed on islands, he said, reported Reuters.
The rules aim to reduce the strain that the vacation industry places on communities and echo a pushback against over-tourism in several other major European destinations, said The New York Times in a review of the plan.
“Tourism supports the economy with significant resources and jobs, but it has its own particular social impact,” Mitsotakis said, adding that he was “very concerned about the image on some of our islands some months of the year due to cruise ships.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/08/world/europe/greece-cruise-ships-tourists-islands.html
It’s a balancing act for Greece because tourism is the country’s biggest revenue engine and 2024 is on a path to break 2023’s record and see more than 31 million visitors spending more than 20 billion euros ($22.1 billion,) with numbers up 15 percent in the first half.
Περισσότερα at thenationalherald.com
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
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Source: tornosnews.gr/en/