Armed with selfie sticks and phones, tourists are flooding the Greek island of Santorini from everywhere – on boats from giant cruise ships, on buses winding down steep slopes, on donkeys clattering down cobbled streets, a Reuters report from the island recounts.
Some defy the afternoon heat to find a good spot among the whitewashed houses and blue-domed churches, where they wait for hours to catch the island's famous sunset. As the sun goes down, many join them, gathering along the shore or on balconies with cameras at the ready.
„This has been my dream since high school,” says 40-year-old American tourist Maria Tavares.
For many of Santorini's 20,000 permanent residents, however, the once idyllic island of old-fashioned villages and pristine beaches has been ruined by mass tourism.
Amid protests against over-tourism erupting in other holiday destinations such as Venice and Barcelona, Santorini is one of the starkest examples of the impact of crowds of visitors on a place.
Local authorities have joined calls from other popular tourist spots to impose visitor quotas.
The growing number of foreign tourists (about 3.4 million people visited the island last year, according to Mayor Nikos Zorzos) is straining aging infrastructure and making housing prices unaffordable for local residents.
Zorzos says he has been urging authorities for years not to allow any new beds on the island and has proposed limiting cruise ship visitors to 8,000 a day (from about 17,000 currently). “It is in the interest of our country to have a border,”, he says.
Even restaurant owners who profit from tourism are concerned. “Our standard of living has deteriorated,” said Yorgos Damigos, owner of a 14-room hotel opened by his parents in the 1980s. “Santorini is a miracle of nature” which is threatened to become a “monster”, he adds.
For some on Santorini, however, most tourists are a good thing. “Everything is possible when there is planning and infrastructure,”, says Alexandros Pelecanos of the island's chamber of commerce. “Do we want money or not? Do we want to have a job and income or not? You can't stay in peace and quiet and make money,”, he declares.
Tourists don't seem to be paying attention as they noisily pass a sign that reads: “Please be respectful. This is your vacation… but it is our home“.