It will become harder to find rooms in Athens and more expensive to visit popular Greek islands like Mykonos and Santorini. The Greek government has launched a package of measures to slow the massive influx of tourists after the pandemic years.
Greece broke a record for the number of foreign tourists last year. The country, with a population of just over 10 million, received a total of 36.1 million visitors in 2023.
This year, mass tourism to Greece has continued to increase, up 16 percent to 11.6 million in the first half of 2024 alone, according to the Central Bank of Greece.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis presented a series of measures this weekend to slow down the development.
Cruise tourism is to be hampered by a new fee that all passengers must pay when they dock in a Greek port. The fee will be higher on the island of Mykonos and the Santorini archipelago.
There are also too many tourists looking for temporary accommodation in central Athens, according to Mitsotakis. The large number of apartments rented out to tourists has created a housing shortage in the Greek capital.
To curb this, the Greek government will now ban new short-term rental contracts for at least one year in three districts of central Athens. And property owners who switch from short-term rentals to longer leases will also not have to pay rental taxes to the state for three years.
The supply of so-called tourist apartments has increased by an average of 28 percent per year between 2019 and 2023, while the number of people renting out on short-term contracts has doubled during the period. At the same time, the number of hotel rooms has only increased by 3.5 percent, according to a report from consulting firm Grant Thornton.
In addition to measures to curb mass tourism, Mitsotakis also presented other proposals this weekend, including a 2 billion euro program to reduce mortgage interest rates, reduce social security contributions, increase pensions and minimum wages.
”Our investments in 2025 are well balanced,” says Mitsotakis.
Source: TT-DI.SE
