Greece plans to introduce a €20 fee for visitors arriving by cruise ships to the islands Santorini and Mykonos during the peak summer season. The aim is to prevent over-tourism, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said today, quoted by Reuters.
Tourism is a major driver of the Greek economy, which is still recovering from a decade-long crisis.
However, some of Greece's most popular destinations, including Santorini, an idyllic island of colorful villages and pristine beaches home to 20,000 people, are in danger of being destroyed by overtourism.
At a press conference a day after outlining his government's main economic measures for 2025, Mitsotakis clarified that excessive tourism is a problem only in some places in Greece.
„Greece does not have a structural problem with overtourism. "Some of the destinations have a significant problem in certain weeks or months of the year, which we have to deal with," he said.
„Cruise tourism has burdened Santorini and Mykonos and that is why we are taking measures, " he added, announcing the new fee.
Tourism revenues in Greece amount to around 20 billion euros for 2023 on the back of nearly 31 million tourist visits.
In Santorini, protesters called for curbs on tourism, similar to calls in other popular holiday spots in Europe, including Venice and Barcelona.
Part of the revenue from the cruise tourism tax will be returned to local communities to be invested in infrastructure, Mitsotakis said.
He also pointed out that the government plans to regulate the number of cruise ships that arrive at certain destinations at the same time, and rules should also be put in place to protect the environment and deal with water shortages on the islands.
Greece also wants to increase the tax on short-term rentals and ban the issuing of new licenses for such rentals in central Athens to increase the number of homes available to permanent residents, Mitsotakis said today.
The government will explain some of the measures today.