Santorini’s whitewashed streets will heave with tens of millions of tourists this summer season. Not everybody on the Greek island will likely be pleased to see them.
“Tourism destroys the vineyards,” wine producer Matthew Argyros mentioned in an interview. “I raise a red flag for the island.” His household vineyard, arrange in 1903, produces from a few quarter of the island’s vineyards, and he warns that agricultural land costs have rocketed within the space as builders clamor for area to construct extra vacation lets.
Manufacturing of Santorini grapes has dropped virtually 50% within the final 20 years, with a median 2.7% drop per yr, in keeping with information collected by the Affiliation of Winemakers of Santorini. The manufacturing, in keeping with the island’s winemakers, is at risk of dropping to zero by 2041 if there’s no intervention of some type. Water shortages are making it more durable to develop the vines, whereas they’ve misplaced most of their employees to the tourism trade by way of the years, Argyros mentioned.
From her balcony within the hilltop village of Pyrgos, Antonia Noussia may as soon as see grapes rising all the best way to the coast. Now, she says, there are “only small patches of vineyards left.”
“You can see people carrying sheets, breakfast supplies, and it doesn’t feel like an inhabited village,” mentioned Noussia, an affiliate professor of city design and planning at London South Financial institution College, who lives half the yr on the island the place she spent all her summers rising up. When the vacationers disappear over winter, locals depend on a single small grocery store.
Tourism has accelerated all through Europe for the reason that pandemic, worsening provide issues, traffic-choked streets and financial imbalances in a number of hotspots resembling Santorini. Some locations are trying to ease the strain with customer charges, caps and even momentary bans — with restricted indicators of success, as a record-breaking summer season will get underway.
“It’s going to be a very bad year for Santorini,” in keeping with Mayor Nikos Zorzos. The island can afford “not one single bed more” for lodging, he added — stressing that this is able to nonetheless be the case even when infrastructure is improved to assist the island address greater numbers. The municipality is unable to impose a building ban, so he needs the Athens authorities to behave.
Santorini is anticipating 3.4 million vacationers this summer season, regardless of native authorities asking for limits since 2012, Zorzos mentioned.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has acknowledged the world faces an issue of “over-tourism.” In June, he introduced plans to limit cruise ships for the nation’s hottest islands. “I think we’ll do it next year,” Mitsotakis mentioned in an interview on the time.
The brand new guidelines may see the entire variety of island berths restricted, or a bidding course of launched for slots. It’s the newest proposal to restrict day-trippers from cruise ships.
Zorzos beforehand arrange a cap of 8,000 cruise guests per day, although this was annulled in the course of the pandemic and just lately reinstated, so the general impact on vacationer numbers is unclear. Santorini’s native authorities have additionally managed to deliver down the variety of days every cruise ship can go to the islands to 48 days from 63 for this season — a quantity that’s set to drop even additional subsequent yr.
Greece’s central administration can also be looking for to impose restrictions on short-term leasing in congested areas, together with most of its high locations within the Aegean and the Ionian islands. The federal government has drafted a invoice, which is at present below public session, which hyperlinks the quantity of brief time period leases to the variety of out there motels in every area.
The European Fee has acknowledged the issues on the islands, saying in a 2018 report that guests introduced €1 billion ($1.1 billion) a yr to Santorini whereas swelling the inhabitants to as many as 107.8 vacationers for each 100 inhabitants. A number of the adverse impacts “have permanent consequences on the island and its community,” the report’s authors wrote.
Summer time Protests
It’s a sentiment shared by different communities dwelling amongst Europe’s star sights. Venice has this yr launched an entrance payment and banned massive and loud teams from getting into. Within the Spanish locations of Mallorca and the Canary Islands, locals have been protesting to reclaim area from guests. Barcelona has additionally grow to be a focus of anger over tourism squeezing out residents.
Some have taken emergency measures after native infrastructure buckled below strain. In late June, the mayor of the Italian island of Capri introduced a ban on incoming vacationers attributable to a extreme water scarcity — although the measure was relaxed inside a day as soon as provides have been mounted, in keeping with native media.
“The problem is not just limited to a few islands and it’s definitely not just Greek,” mentioned Ioannis Spilanis, assistant professor of the College of the Aegean. “The problem has been more than obvious since at least 2018, then the pandemic came and we forgot about it and rushed to bring travel and tourism back to make up for the damage.”
Throughout the summer season of 2023, Greeks reclaimed seashores from sunbeds and seashore bars, a protest referred to as the “towel movement.” The federal government adopted stricter guidelines on using seashores and has made positive they’re being carried out with frequent inspections. In Greece, all seashores are by regulation free to entry and can’t be personal.
The stakes are excessive for the Greek financial system. After greater than a decade of austerity following the monetary disaster, GDP stays a lot decrease than it was earlier than 2008. Tourism has been a brilliant spot, breaking pre-pandemic data and representing virtually one fifth of financial output in 2023, in keeping with the World Journey and Tourism Council.
The nation attracted 32.7 million vacationers in 2023, 18% greater than the yr earlier than, in keeping with the Financial institution of Greece, whereas the primary quarter of 2024 has introduced almost 25% extra guests than the identical interval final yr.
Endangered Websites
In the meantime, the strain continues to construct in some locations. A number of islands away from Santorini on seashore hotspot Serifos, mayor Konstantinos Revinthis mentioned there are not any eating places open from December to February. “Nothing is for the locals in Serifos anymore,” he mentioned.
Serifos, together with Folegandros and Sifnos, this yr made it to the checklist of Europe’s most endangered websites compiled by heritage group Europa Nostra, which pointed to “rampant construction” and the degradation of pure sources. Wildfires have been breaking out in July as Greece’s warmth wave smolders.
Revinthis mentioned “tourists are set for a bad surprise this year due to water shortage,” and also needs to brace for worsening site visitors jams that may trigger them to overlook their ferry departure time. “They must know that they will not be able to shower, if there’s no immediate solution.”
