Greek islands popular with Brit tourists to cap number of visiting cruise ships

19 June 2024 , 09:41

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Around 800 vessels called and delivered almost 1.3 million visitors to Santorini last year (Image: Getty Images)

The Greek prime minister has announced plans to cap the number of cruise ships visiting islands popular with British tourists.

Greece hopes to limit cruise ships visiting certain popular islands including Mykonos and Santorini. In an interview with Bloomberg, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said: "I think we’ll do it next year."

This would be the government’s first move to cope with the effects of "over-tourism" in the post-pandemic period, according to Bloomberg. If new rules were introduced, the total number of island berths would be restricted or a bidding process would be introduced for slots.

Mykonos had 749 cruises visit last year (Anadolu via Getty Images)

Santorini is one of the Greek islands that suffers from high levels of tourism. "Santorini in itself is a problem," said Kyriakos. “There are people spending a lot of money to be on Santorini and they don’t want the island to be swamped." "Plus the island can’t afford it, even in terms of security," he added.

Santorini is a popular holiday destination known for its volcanic landscape littered with white and blue buildings. Last year, it was Greece’s most popular island destination for cruise ships, with around 800 vessels calling and delivering almost 1.3 million visitors, according to the Hellenic Ports Association.

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In comparison, the island is home to around 15,000 permanent residents. "Santorini is the most sensitive, Mykonos will be the second," Kyriakos continued. Mykonos had 749 cruise ship visits in 2023, according to Bloomberg.

In 2023, Greece welcomed 32.7 million tourists — an 18% increase compared to 2022. Cruises created €847.4 million (£716.4 million) in revenue last year, more than double the 2022 figure.

Greece is not the only country taking action against over-tourism. In 2021, Italy banned large cruise shops from the canal leading to the centre of Venice, and now tourists are charged to enter the centre of the city during peak periods.

Barcelona, Spain, announced it would permanently restrict cruise ship access to its city-centre harbour in October 2023. The new rules, which were also introduced in October 2023, meant that most of Barcelona's cruise ship activity relocated away from the central World Trade Centre pier — Barcelona's most central wharf.

Ships now dock at the newer Moll d’Adossat terminal at the south end of the city, where passengers have to then hop on a 30-minute bus transfer to reach the city centre.

Cruise ships were previously banned from docking in Greek ports for four months in 2020 in an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus. Ports including Piraeus in Athens, Rhodos, Iraklio, Volos, Corfu and Katakolo, all reopened on August 1 2020.

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Cyann Fielding