Assist actually
unbiased journalism
Our mission is to ship unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds energy to account and exposes the reality.
Whether or not $5 or $50, each contribution counts.
Assist us to ship journalism with out an agenda.
The mayor of one in all Greece’s most visited islands has revealed plans to crack down on overtourism as vacationer numbers surpass the variety of residents each day throughout peak season.
Santorini is one in all a number of vacation hotspots going through overcrowding this summer time on account of elevated vacationer numbers from cruise ships.
In July, a social media put up from a councillor urging residents to remain indoors to facilitate 17,000 cruise ship passengers induced battle with locals.
Final week, authorities officers proposed growing the debarkation charge for cruise passengers visiting the Greek port from 35 cents to over €10 (£8).
Santorini Mayor Nikos Zorzos informed the Greek Reporter that municipal authorities ought to have the ability to set up native vacationer entry charges “like Venice did” at tourism hotspots on the island.
Like many European hotspots battling overtourism, the issues plaguing locals embody overdevelopment, congested visitors and an absence of parking areas on account of “inefficient administration” of vacationer flows.
Plans for small bypass roads and new parking areas to decongest areas are within the works based on Mr Zorzos.
Mr Zorzos mentioned: “It’s our responsibility to guard this land from getting its identification altered, and any measures must be within the route of guaranteeing that Santorini will proceed to be a fantastic Greek vacation spot.”
It’s not the primary effort by the Greek island to regulate vacationer “oversaturation”.
A research by the College of the Aegean in 2018 beforehand estimated that Santorini can maintain a vacationer capability of 8,000 guests per day.
Researchers launched a digital berth allocation system to distribute cruise ship arrivals evenly and stop congestion that might be reintroduced this 12 months.
“These 8,000 customer arrivals per day steered by the College of the Aegean research are completely sustainable if we enable the designated time between cruise ship berths,” mentioned Mr Zorzos.
A push for off-peak journey to the blue and white isle to “scale back the strain of the summer time months” additionally noticed a extra frequent flight schedule launched and vacationer lodging open for longer in 2011.
In April, Venice trialled a €5 (£4.26) cost to enter its historic centre and management customer numbers on busy days till mid-July.
The brand new vacationer tax scheme has since been known as a “whole failure” by metropolis councillors within the Italian metropolis’s battle towards overtourism.
For extra journey information and recommendation, hearken to Simon Calder’s podcast
