A councillor asked Santorini residents to confine themselves to their homes as they welcomed a crowd of 17,000 tourists

The island, the pearl of the Aegean, has been suffering the effects of mass tourism since the Covid-19 pandemic ended. With just over 15,000 permanent residents currently, Santorini receives more than 5.5 million tourists a year, double the number in 2012, according to a report by the Ombudsman.

During 2023, eight hundred cruise ships stopped in Santorini, carrying a total of 1.3 million tourists, 23% more than in 2022. In addition, after the end of travel restrictions, Santorini Airport recorded a historic high in international arrivals, far higher than before the pandemic, according to the figures. According to official data, Santorini received 811,000 passengers last year – compared to 519,000 in 2019 -, 5,700 arrived via direct flights, while international flights increased by 5.8% last May compared to the previous year.

Last June, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis He said that from next year cruise ship arrivals will be limited to Santorini and Mykonos, the two Greek islands most affected by mass tourism. For his part, the mayor of Santorini, Nikos Zorzoshas denounced the excessive construction of the island, 20% of whose surface is covered with buildings, which is higher than the density of the Attica region, where 50% of the country’s population lives, and asked that licenses be denied for hotels and short-term properties and that construction outside the urban area be stopped immediately.

Some voices are demanding to charge a fee to visitors arriving in Santorini by cruise ship, the problem is that Greek law establishes that the maximum fee cannot exceed 0.35 euros per passenger, this amount does not cover for example the expenses for the collection of the waste generated by each visitor.

It should be noted that, in the high season, half a thousand coaches, 4,000 minibuses and vans, a hundred quads move around the island, which, combined with the residents’ own vehicles and rental vehicles, moving around on the poor road network and narrow streets of the capital, cause real traffic chaos.

The island’s resources are at risk

According to a report presented during the conference “Uniqueness and Sustainability: Islands on the Verge of Collapse”Conducted by the University of the Aegean, water consumption in Santorini has doubled in recent years.

It increased by 18% from 2019 to 2022 and by 22% from 2022 to 2023. In addition, electricity consumption increased from 32.5 MW in the high season of 2019 to 59 MW in 2023 and is expected to exceed 65 MW due to the high temperatures experienced in the country during the month of July this year.