GREECE has announced plans to crack down on visitors flocking to its sandy beaches in a bid to tackle overtourism.
Authorities are set to impose a €20 tourist tax on cruise ship passengers visiting the islands of Santorini and Mykonos during the peak summer season.
The government also plans to regulate the number of cruise ships that arrive on its islands, while new rules to protect the environment and tackle water shortages are also being plotted.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said: “Cruise shipping has burdened Santorini and Mykonos and this is why we are proceeding with interventions.
“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.”
Part of the revenues from the cruise shipping tax will be returned to local communities to be invested in infrastructure, Mitsotakis said.
Greece relies heavily on tourism, the main driver of the country’s economy which is still recovering from a decade-long crisis that wiped out a fourth of its output.
Last year, a record 32.7million people visited Greece breaking previous records.
However, some of its most popular destinations, including Santorini, risk being ruined by mass tourism.
Some 800 cruise ships brought 1.3 million passengers to the island in 2023, severely impacting the few thousand local residents.
Greek authorities also plan to suspend all construction licences on hotel and holiday rentals in Santorini’s caldera zone, where hordes of tourists pose for sunset photos.
Footage of the picture-perfect island showed hundreds of tourists clashing for sunset selfies.
Hundreds were seen queuing up in narrow walkways to reach the clifftop of the village – a short walk that can now take more than 20 minutes because of overcrowding.
It’s left locals upset at the overcrowding issues tourism has caused.
Local resident Onur Kilic, 28, told iNews: “Too many people come to Santorini and they leave rubbish behind.
“It’s hard for locals because we live here. The roads are too crowded and the traffic is much worse; it’s bad for the environment and the cost of everything is out of control, locals cannot pay as prices have gone up.”
Protesters have called for curbs on tourism, as in other popular holiday destinations in Europe, including Spain,
A WAVE of anti-tourist measures are being implemented across Europe to curb mass tourism in popular holiday hotspots.
Overcrowding has become the main problem in many sunny destinations, with authorities trying to find a solution to keep tourists and locals happy.
Officials have attempted to reduce the impact of holidaymakers by implementing additional taxes on tourists, or banning new hotels.
Earlier this year Venice became the first city in the world to charge an entry fee for holidaymakers after it started charging day-trippers €5 (£4.30) if visiting the historical Italian centre.
It was followed by an area in Barcelona which resorted to removing a well-used bus route from Apple and Google Maps to stop crowds of tourists from using the bus.
Meanwhile, San Sebastián in the north of Spain, limited the maximum number of people on guided visits to 25 to avoid congestion, noise, nuisance and overcrowding.
The city has already banned the construction of new hotels.
The Spanish government has allowed restaurants to charge customers more for sitting in the shade in Andalucia.
Benidorm has introduced time restrictions, as swimming in the sea between midnight and 7am could cost a whopping £1,000.
The Canary Islands are also considering adopting measures to regulate the number of visitors – and charge tourists a daily tax.
Greece has already enforced a tourist tax during the high season (from March to October) with visitors expected to pay from €1 (£0.86) to €4 (£3.45) per night, depending on the booked accommodation.
Officials in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia want to introduce a fee for travellers to remind people to be courteous during their trips.
