Santorini’s whitewashed streets will welcome millions of visitors this summer. Not everyone on the Greek island will be happy to see them.
“Tourism destroys vineyards,” wine producer Matthew Argyros said in an interview. “I raised a red flag for the island.” His family winery, founded in 1903, produces wine from about a quarter of the island’s vineyards. has soared.
According to data collected by the Santorini Winegrowers Association, Santorini grape production has dropped by nearly 50% over the past 20 years, with an average annual decline of 2.7%. According to the island’s winemakers, without some form of intervention, production could drop to zero by 2041. Argyros said water shortages have made growing vines more difficult, and over the years they have lost most of their workers to the tourism industry.
Antonia Noussia once watched grapes grow all the way to the coast from her balcony in the hilltop village of Pyrgos. Now, she said, “there’s only a small patch of vineyard left.”
“You could see people carrying bed sheets, breakfast items, it didn’t feel like an inhabited village,” said Nusia, an associate professor of urban design and planning at London South Bank University, who has lived on the island for half a year. All summer long. When tourists disappear in the winter, locals rely on a small grocery store.
Since the outbreak began, tourism has accelerated across Europe, with supply problems worsening, traffic jams on streets and economic imbalances in several hotspots such as Santorini. Some places are trying to ease the pressure with visitor fees, caps and even temporary bans, but with a record-breaking summer looming, there are limited signs of success.
“This is going to be a very bad year for Santorini,” Mayor Nikos Zorzos said. He added that the island could afford accommodation “not more than a bed”, stressing that this would remain the case even as infrastructure improved to help the island cope with a larger population. The city cannot enforce a construction ban, so he wants the Athens government to take action.
Zorzos said Santorini is expected to welcome 3.4 million tourists this summer, despite restrictions imposed by local authorities since 2012.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis admitted that the region faces a problem of “overtourism”. In June, he announced plans to restrict cruise ships to the country’s most popular islands. “I think we will do it next year,” Mitsotakis said in an interview at the time.
The new rules may limit the total number of island berths or introduce a tendering process for berths. It’s the latest proposal to limit day-trippers from cruise ships.
Zorzos previously set a cap of 8,000 cruise ship visitors per day, but that cap was lifted during the pandemic and recently reinstated, so the overall impact on visitor numbers is unclear. Santorini’s local authorities have also managed to reduce the number of days each cruise ship can visit the islands this season from 63 to 48, with the number set to drop further next year.
Greece’s central government is also seeking to impose restrictions on short-term rentals in crowded areas, including most popular destinations in the Aegean and Ionian islands. The government has drafted a bill, currently undergoing public consultation, that would link short-term rental amounts to the number of hotels available in each area.
The European Commission is aware of the problems on the islands, saying in a 2018 report that tourists bring Santorini 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in revenue each year, while Santorini’s population The number surged to 107.8 tourists per 100 inhabitants. Some of the negative impacts “have permanent consequences for the islands and their communities,” the report’s authors wrote.
summer protests
Other communities living in Europe’s star attractions feel the same way. Venice introduced admission fees this year and banned entry to large and noisy groups. In the Spanish destinations of Mallorca and the Canary Islands, locals have been protesting to take back space from tourists. Barcelona has also become the focus of anger over the tourism industry squeezing out residents.
Some have taken emergency measures after local infrastructure collapsed under the pressure. In late June, the mayor of the Italian island of Capri announced a ban on entry to tourists due to severe water shortages – a measure that was relaxed within a day after supplies were resolved, local media reported.
“The problem is not limited to just a few islands, and it’s definitely not just a Greek problem,” said Ioannis Spilanis, assistant professor at the University of the Aegean. “Since at least 2018, the problem has become very Obviously, then the pandemic comes and we forget about it and rush to resume travel and tourism to make up for the losses.”
In the summer of 2023, Greeks took back the beaches from sunbeds and beach bars in a protest known as the “Towel Movement.” The government has introduced stricter rules on beach use and ensures these rules are enforced through frequent inspections. In Greece, the law states that all beaches are free to enter and cannot be made private.
For the Greek economy, the stakes are high. After more than a decade of austerity following the financial crisis, GDP remains well below pre-2008 levels. Nearly one-fifth of the total.
According to the Bank of Greece, the country attracted 32.7 million tourists in 2023, an 18% increase on last year, while the number of tourists in the first quarter of 2024 was almost 25% higher than the same period last year.
endangered sites
Meanwhile, pressure continues to mount in some places. Konstantinos Revinthis, the mayor of Serifos, a beach hotspot a few islands away from Santorini, said no restaurants were open between December and February. “For the locals in Serifos, nothing exists anymore,” he said.
Serifos, Folegandros and Sifnos were all included this year on a list of Europe’s most endangered sites compiled by European heritage group Europa Nostra, which cited “rampant construction” and the degradation of natural resources . Wildfires continue to break out in July as Greece’s heat wave simmers.
Reventis said “tourists are in for a bad surprise this year due to the lack of water” and should also be prepared for increasing traffic congestion, which could cause them to miss ferry departure times. “They have to know that without an immediate solution, they won’t be able to shower.”
