14 May 2024 , 14:28
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Anti-tourist graffiti has been slapped on the walls of Athens as growing protests bubble over to Greece.
"Tourists go home" and "No Tourists No Hipsters" are among the messages daubed on the walls of the ancient capital where locals and holidaymakers are increasingly at odds.
Rising property prices have been blamed on the spread of Airbnbs and other holiday lets in the Greek city, where residents have long complained of over-sized flocks of tourists blocking the streets and causing excessive noise.
"Tourists enjoy your stay in the cemetery of Europe," demands one large piece of graffiti covering most of the side of a house, seemingly referring to Athens' reputation as the continental capital of antiquity and a place where increasingly large numbers of people are being priced out.
Some locals are unhappy with the tourist situation in Athens (Olivia)
Some of the graffiti is a little rude (Olivia)Last month protesters hit the streets demanding change. They chanted: "They are taking our houses while they live in the Maldives". Local Anna Theodorakis, who was forced out of her home in Metaxourgio, Athens, told France24: "I think the answer is to go in the streets and block everything and just not do something because people are losing their homes."
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Dimitri, a property developer said: "80% of this neighborhood are Airbnbs. Tourists who come here want to see the Greek culture, so if no more Greeks are living here, tourists won't want to come."
Even more so than many countries on the Mediterranean, Greece is heavily reliant on tourism, which made up a fifth of its GDP in 2022.
More than 40% of disposable income in Greece is spent on housing, a figure higher than in any other European country. Meanwhile, seven in ten Greeks under the age of 34 still live with their parents.
Short-term holiday rental figures have surged by 500% in less than a decade as more and more homeowners and landlords attempt to cash in on the record breaking number of tourists who now visit Greece. There were 33.4 million tourists last year, with about 6.7 million of them arriving at Athens' Eleutherios Venizelos Airport, according to the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises.
Issues of overtourism in Athens and concerns about how to sort it out are not new. Last year the city was put on a 'No Travel' list put together by Foders. The American outlet argued that Athens is one of the many great historical settlements which is being eroded and damaged thanks to out of control tourism.
Having bounced back in terms of visitor numbers post-financial meltdown and coronavirus lockdowns, "there’s fear that if the surge of visitors continues unchecked, the most Athenian boroughs will culturally erode and physically disappear," Fodors writes.
Central to the concerns is the Acropolis, the biggest tourist attraction in Greece and arguably its most famous brick-and-mortar son. Each day close to 17,000 people visit the site, which is home to the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, and the Propylaea entrance.
The symbol of ancient Greek civilization is a must-see spot but it has attracted criticism in recent years. Many visitors have complained of the experience visiting the monument, arguing that the large crowds and intense heat of the midday sun make soaking up the atmosphere at the Acropolis difficult.
The graffiti and protests have cropped up in Athens at a similar time to demonstrations across Spain, where some residents have grown tired of the impact of too many tourists.
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