The journey trade is essential to Greece, with tourism accounting for round 1 / 4 of the nation’s financial system. Nonetheless, it’s doable to have an excessive amount of of a great factor.
Within the post-pandemic journey rush, Greece has develop into more and more widespread – and fascinating locations like Santorini, Mykonos, and Rhodes, are struggling to maintain up with the demand.
All through 2023, Greece welcomed a complete of 5,230 cruise ships carrying over 7 million passengers to the island. It is a dramatic 9.41% improve in cruise ship arrivals and a 51.26% surge in passenger numbers from 2022.
The staggering variety of cruise passengers is inflicting overcrowding on the islands, maritime visitors jams that may be a deterrent to cruisers and different vacationers, and hindering the standard of life for the locals – with a very extreme impression on Santorini.
“Santorini is probably the most delicate, Mykonos would be the second. Although many Greek islands are straining beneath the burden of their recognition, these are those ‘which can be clearly struggling,’” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis informed Bloomberg.
In 2023, Santorini skilled 800 cruise ship calls, bringing about 1.3 million cruisers to the Mediterranean sizzling spot – a 17% improve in cruise tourism numbers from 2022 that’s upending the lives of the 15,000 everlasting residents who dwell on the island.
“There are individuals spending some huge cash to be on Santorini and so they don’t need the island to be swamped,” Mitsotakis added. “Plus the island can’t afford it, even when it comes to safety.”
In the meantime, Mykonos hosted 749 ship calls in 2023, which is a rise of 23% in only one yr.
Whereas no cruise limitations have been put in place as of but, Mitsotakis stated it’s one thing he expects to occur in 2025. The brand new guidelines will doubtless embody limiting the full variety of island berths which can be out there to cruise ships and/or a bidding course of to name on the islands.
A number of European Ports Restrict Cruise Tourism
Ever for the reason that Covid-19 pandemic ended, cruising has been on the rise. The variety of cruise passengers exceeded 31 million in 2023, with 2 million extra individuals cruising final yr than they did in 2019.
With that quantity solely anticipated to develop, different European locations (and a few within the US) have already taken measures to restrict the variety of cruise tourism to stop overcrowding and to mitigate the damaging environmental impression that may include welcoming numerous vessels – and significantly older vessels that might not be as sustainable as newer builds.
Learn Additionally: Juneau Agrees on Cruise Ship Passenger Limits
Prime Minister Mitsotakis’ announcement is following within the footsteps of locations like Venice, Italy, Majorca, Spain, and Barcelona, Spain.
In 2021, Venice applied a brand new vacationer charge to mitigate crowds on the Italian metropolis’s busiest days – a rule that took impact earlier this yr on April 25, 2024. The charge applies to guests no matter if they arrive by land, airplane, practice, or sea.
In Could of 2024, Majorca moved ahead with new proposals to resume restrictions that may forestall mega-cruise ships from docking in Palma, the capital metropolis of the most important of Spain’s Balearic Islands.
If authorized, the restrictions would proceed to cap the variety of cruise ships that may go to the port to a few per day, with just one allowed to hold over 5,000 passengers – a measure that has been in place since 2022.
Nonetheless, the brand new proposal additionally seeks so as to add further taxes for cruise passengers – together with a charge to reach in port and a separate charge to enter Palma.
In October of 2023, Barcelona applied its personal partial cruise ship ban to stop ships from docking on the Spanish metropolis’s northern docks or the World Commerce Middle. The aim of this modification was to maintain cruise ships farther from town middle so as to reduce exhaust gasses in Barcelona’s most populated areas.
Simply a few weeks in the past on Could 24, 2024, Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni introduced that the coastal metropolis can be taking further actions to restrict the variety of cruise passengers visiting per day to deal with remaining overcrowding considerations.
