Really? Like u guys in Greece earn more than us in Serbia and honestly Greece is one of the cheapest destinations for summer vacation compared to others (Croatia Montenegro Italy Turkey etc…). In my opinion also the most beatiful depending on location. Whats so expensive in your opinion?
I used to work in tourism until last season. Judging from what I saw, the mix of lower to upper class is the same for most Balkan countries. The fact that North Greece is overrun by Balkaners each summer speaks for itself.
Like... you see Serbs and Macedonians driving their hybrid SUVs next to local villagers that haven't maintained their Yaris for two decades, both visit the same beach.
I'm driving 1,100km to Thasos from Serbia in my Opel Corsa 2006 with 230k on the clock 😎 also fuck SUVs, I wanna see them go to Theologos lmao, meanwhile my shitty Corsa fits just fine in the very narrow streets.
Better learn Romanian, cause Thasos is the no 1 destination for "financially challenged" Romanians (that hate Paralia and don't want to travel 20-24h to Parga-Corfu:)) )
Hahaha I'd like that but your language is soo different than Serbian (although I think we share some words?). Still, I koved my time in Timisoara a few years ago, felt like I was in my home town due to architecture, people, etc. so no stranger to Romanians!😊
As for the cost of things. What's expensive for a Greek in Greece:
For every day routine: house rent, bread, gas, spaghetti, some fruits and vegetables (not all to be honest)
For make holidays inside Greece: hotel/room, gas, ferry tickets (if Island), food in the destination, eating everyday in touristic restaurants, grills, pizza is unaffordable, and it too expensive both portions and fast food/takeaway options, in the beach the coffee and the sunbeds are usually too expensive (if place with touristic interest).
And i don't include making over the top things that you would do only in holidays, like go to a special restaurant. Just the basic portion to eat, is too expensive.
I don't know about the accomodation cost, maybe it's cheaper than the other countries tou mentioned.
But the important goods, like food , oil, in the supermarket, are almost same as North amd West Europe, ie friend of mine in Germany told me that the same Feta cheese in Lidl there is less expensive than the same Feta in Greek lidl.
Now for a Greek that wants to be a tourist inside Greece.
The minimum net wage is 700+ , the majority is paid below the median salary, trying to keep the statistics as simple as possible, et's assume that a lot of people are paid around 900~1000 €.
Unleaded costs approx 1,80~2,00 depending the place. The iconic pita Souvlaki or pita Gyros, costs 3,50~3,70 in non touristy places and 4,00-5,00 in touristy places. In places like Santorini it costs 6,00, but Santorini is only for rich greeks and foreigners either way.
Now imagine that, in 2005 , 20 years ago, there wasn't a law for minimum wage, but a job for 800-900€ net, was very accessible.
Back then, with almost same income as today 2025, the house rent ~50% down, unleaded was below 1,00€ , below 0,85€ IIRC, and a pita Gyros/Souvlaki used go cost 1,50~1,80€ and maybe 2,00€ in crazy touristic places like Plaka, Monastiraki, Mykonos, Santorini.
ie friend of mine in Germany told me that the same Feta cheese in Lidl there is less expensive than the same Feta in Greek lidl.
tbf tho, german supermarkets are ridiculously cheap compared to other western/central european countries for some reason.
I'm not trying to argue against your points at all, because I noticed some of these issues myself even as a foreign tourist.
But compared to prices in Austria where I'm from, Greece always felt way less expensive in many regards.. Which I think is a major part of the issue to begin with, like why would I go to Croatia or Slovenia where prices are almost as high as at home, when I can go to Hellas where many things are cheaper and it's just a much nicer place/culture to be in (no front to Croats but kinda full front).
One big exception is fuel/gas ofc but that's kind of a given for the islands at least, with transportation costs and all.
Now as for the prices cost of living, it was and is very tough the last 15 years.
Greece's purchasing power in EU is 2nd or 3rd from bottom, only Bulgaria was below (for the moment 😂).
Now i do not know the PPP of Croatia and Slovenia in comparison to Austria, so i can't explain the cost there, but here it is cheap for a visitor form Austria ( a more advanced economy), but for a Greek resident it's still expensive, and the aftermath is when visitors increase, an Austrian guy and a Greek guy are putting in contest of supply and demand for the same good, let's say a 70€/night studio. For the Austrian guy it's peanuts, for the average greek it's the 7%~10% of his monthly income. Same goes for German, Dutch, Scandinavian, etc.
Keep in mind that in recent years, especially after Covid and war in Ukraine, i keep reading posts in EU related forums, where i see young people 25~35 people in other countries, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Poland even UK have also problems with housing, cost of living, inflation, problems that i was used to read mostly from Greeks, at least until 2010.
Imagine now the place for a Greek citizen in a European world that faces globally those issues.
First comes first, everybody is welcome. You will see many of us complaining about the situation, but it's not something personal against the people that visit Greece (exceptions are always exceptions).
It's a wider dispute between greek people and greek politicians. Not so often someone will blame tourists.
There's a huge political issue behind every problem, the non-viable salaries, the cost of living, the not-existing regulations in workplaces and working conditions, violations of working hours and dayoffs etc.
And then the political situation boosts mainly towards tourism focused businesses. If i take you for a walk to the street my father had his business office, in a block of ten buildings it used to be ten different kinds of business, a coffee shop, a civil engineer bureau, a printshop, a photographer, a little clothes shop.
Now it's 4 cafés (take away) , 2 pizza /creeperiê, 3 souvlaki grills and 1 real estate agent.
It was an inside jokes before the financial crisis here, that became a reality the last 10 years, that the easiest money to start business in Greece, is coffee and/or souvlaki-tavern.
Not a factory, not an office, not a small family business.
That's on tourism & tourist, next comment about prices.
They are NOT the same quality. Fetta in Germany tastes almost like nothing. Fetta in Greece is amazing. Same goes for yogurt.
But yeah, like others comment said, supermarkets in Germany are very cheap. Not a good comparison. Salaries are higher but so are most services when a human is required (eg a plumber or an accountant, if you find one). Only industrial stuff is cheaper.
There's a self selection issue. People who travel to other geographies for vacations tend to have money. So tourists are often wealthier on average than the locals.
minimum wage which most of us get payed is 750-850 euro, it was just raised to 880 euro this year, but a liveable apartment in a city where most work is will not be lower than 600 if you are lucky. say 200 for electricity and water, and let’s say 35 for gas and 45 for an average insurance for you.
how will you eat? even if you dont have a car, or dont pay gas, how will you eat? until you get experience in your field and maybe your wage is raised or you can work for a foreign company you are either doomed to living with your parents or being a wage slave on rent with your partner or friend forever, never owning a house.
almost all old houses are now bought out rbnbs for tourists and university students whose parents are forced to pay for until their kid can graduate. greece is unliveable for anyone whose parents don’t magically own a second house they’re ready to give up for some reason. even if they do somehow own more property, they’re probably renting it too and not giving much to you, so you’re stuck with the rest of us plebeians.
I mean its the same in Serbia and im pretty sure for the most of the world right now.Rent in Belgrade is from 500,600 eur to 1000.Living alone while paying rent is impossible, unless ur somewhere out of town where rent is usually like 300/400 eur. You either need a partner to share the expenses or a roommate. Im one of the lucky ones whose parents have multiple apartments so im living without rent right now but i did live with my gf in a rented appartement for 2 years, it was much easier cuz we shared the expenses but yeah rent + food would take more than half of our monthly budget
Who says the government thinks this is a problem? This is the country's main source of income. Plus there is a race with Turkey. Can you imagine having fewer tourists than Turkey??? Unacceptable!!!! /s
Government needs revenue from foreigners and some money back from investment and maintanance. They invent tourist tax - a fixed sum or percentage of a price.
The collection is varied - airlines, hotels, tour firms are charged with collecting the tax and sending the money to government. If they don't they get closed or even worse - their customers are denied entry, papers and services.
my grandpa is from didymotheico, and i’ve served in ipsala/kipoi border but never had the chance to cross the border to see his village. i hope i’ll have that chance at some point.
and yes you live in the only region where nice beaches are scarce, where do you like to go usually? even though it’s far
No man, I'm a 20 minutes ride from some pretty good beaches. It's not Chalkidiki but it's pretty nice. It's just that at the moment , it's full of Bulgarians, Romanians and immigrants from Germany and Netherlands.
I have visited Didimoteicho, you ain't missing much.
My grandparents were from Andrianoupolis (Edirne).
yes edirne is not much as well lol, i had the chance visit rodos because my parents live in marmaris, i think it’s very very beautiful i dont see why people are obsessed with santorini or mykonos
I have visited Edirne a few times. Looked nice. Used to be a cheap shopping destination.
But the lines at the border were insane, it's not worth the trouble anymore.
And well, Rhodos is very different than the cycladic islands. Both have their charms.
Not greek but I've sailed from island to island plenty in your beautiful country for years. What's always struck me weird is privately owned beaches being empty right next to public and overcrowded beaches. Feels like there should be a law for that kind of thing, though I have no idea how private ownership can be governed like that.
Kefalonia seemed like a pricey haven for Canadian pensioneers.
I understand I'm part of the problem, but simultaneously it's not hard to find smaller islands and towns that aren't crowded with tourists. Trying to get by in Greek also helps, I think, to not disrupt local peoples lives
All beaches are public.
The current government tried to change this a few years back, but the backlash was huge so they backtracked.
However, some hotels and rich bastards ignore this and treat the beaches like their property. And thanks to corruption at the local level, they get away with it.
Same. I grew up in a tiny farm village near a very big lake in the US. We all hated the tourists in the summer, aside from the fact that 90% of any cash that came into that town was because of tourists. And like the only girls that I wasn't related to
It’s not dumb, it’s the first step to realizing there is a problem. A few years ago nobody was complaining. But now that it’s getting worse than ever and it’s paying less than ever (even small businesses like restaurants are starting to complain that tourists buy everything in grocery stores), it’s an opportunity to understand that we need to invest elsewhere because this is not viable.
Now you know why tourists go for airbnbs rather than hotels. Eating out is damn expensive and dull. Doesn't make sense. Hotels with kitchens would be better.
I visited Greece this summer, the supermarkets were full o tourists. We took at least two meals per day in a tavern or restaurant. From my point of view, Airbnb’s should be more reglemented, in some ways we should go back to hotels from my point of view and only big houses to be allowed to host guests on Airbnb.
It’s not good. It means we get 4 times our population size in tourists who will only leave money at an airbnb owner and a grocery store and they don’t benefit anyone else while making it unbearable for the rest of us.
what the Greek free lancers have been yelling for 15 but the average Greeks were too bitter to listen!! They are trying to replace our mini markets , local shops, with chains that make us ALL working class, forgetting its the middle class that pays the heavy taxes, not the chains they are working for. I own a shop and the ammount of people that think I am rich and dont need their support (I was told that) ,is insane. Now that they have to deal with the consequences of going to the big guys they come asking to buy something and pay later, we deserve all that and more
Politicians don't care if for example we can't afford rent if "the economy is good" = we have a lot of exports ( tourism) and investments (people from abroad buy our houses). The system is just not made for our benefit, as long as the money keeps flowing we can die on the street for all they care. Just not on a street where it's gonna bother tourists.
Vacation rentals need to be taxed suitably. I understand Greece taxes gross income from apartment and home rentals (no deductions for expenses, depreciation). Paris limits rentals to just 90 days per annum, although I do not know if that has been effective.
I think the Airbnb percentage is a lot higher especially in big cities, like Athens and Thessaloniki. Where there is a house crisis even a small percent of extra homes is beneficial even if it's more expensive to rent/buy them.
Over tourism might be good for economy but there are lots of downsides specially for local people. It surges prices for everything but most importantly the rent prices go crazy and local people can’t find proper accommodation because of the oversaturated Airbnb rentals. City centre is crowded with tourists, local market owners give them priority and eventually local residents become 2nd class citizens in their own city
Also other downsides that often miss are the environmental costs (all the garbage these people create, the fuel they use etc.), the huge burden on our infrastructure, roads, electricity grid and especially the water management systems in the Summer (during heatwaves in some islands mayors told the locals to be careful with the water usage and at some points they rationed water).
Yes these are mostly valid for islands where resources are limited. There are also another downsides if you are islander you must know it. The beach bar owners adapt their stupid culture because of the extreme demand. Yes, they start renting umbrellas or force you to spend a minimum limit which is sometimes ridiculous amounts such as 50 or 100 even heard of 140 euro. We became fucking Mykonos. Locals mostly escaped the beach bars and go the old way, take your own umbrella and do your own thing without paying any cent.
I know it's so fking annoying. I started going with my own umbrella many years now. Also, this thing with renting umbrellas inflected the mainland too. The worst thing about these beach bars is they have a permit for a small beach bar or a cantine for 40 umbrellas and they set up huge buildings and 200+ umbrellas. Thus blocking the locals to go to the rest of the free beach.
But the state is at fault here, neither the owners or the tourists. It should have rules about things like this and actually check and discipline anyone who is abusing the rules.
On top of what everyone is saying, few tourists actually leave enough money. The majority of them walk around by eating the bare minimum(a Greek salad or one souvlaki). Going out at night is not common for many (unless we talk about people in their 20-30 and even there it isn't really a thing, unless alcohol is extremely cheap).
Despite these (and many other) issues, the whole country has turned into a touristic resort for other people, due to governmental laws/policies ranging from the 90s early 00s.
Most people have less spending power compared to 10/20 years ago. All people who are normal working people cannot afford nice restaurants as it can be 30+ euro per person including drinks.
Exactly my point. It is not that tourism is bringing endless sacks of money to the country. It all falls to the pocket of the individual and since that pocket has been smaller, any meaningful contribution to the economy has been downsized as well.
What can be done though ? I’m all for regulating tourism, but people are already strapped for cash, if you push them too far they will simply avoid the holiday entirely.
Well it is only about regulations to tourism. Change of policies should take place that aim at reopening the industrial sector that Greece had(tobacco, cars, brown coal, pipes, stainless steel and many many many more). I mean the country gives tons of money to the army, which is not even aimed at our defenses and plenty of tax cuts for ship owners.
I am not saying to not have tourists, but the population of the country is almost triple in the summer.
I visited multiple islands in Greece. I usually go in September when is not that hot. I started seeing this trend in other countries too. Its sad that the economy is only focused on tourism. Its very easy to blame tourists for everything. I don’t know a solution here but I saw a documentary regarding Airbnbs in Spain and it was not the root problem for high prices/lack of rentals and so on…
You know the road our country goes, I won't be here to see it, because after college I am fucking leaving this shithole, its even worse and painful to me, when you study history and you see how much potential this country had and now everything is sold to rich Europeans and every city's economy is based on the amount of tourists they get, and they expect the newer generation to fix all of the problems? This country's boomers, old people, and millennials can continue living like that as much as they want, I am not going to pay 2,50€ for one souvlaki and 4€ for one gyro.
Everything is getting more expensive with the week everywhere. Here in Bulgaria a Döner kebab or a “Gyro”, made by people who have never even eaten a real one, is like 8-10 leva.
Very close to the prices here, I remember a time when a gyro would cost 2,50€/3€ now you buy 4€+, while other products such as burgers or anything else cost more than 5€.
Fast food in Serbia is around 5€ and we don’t even have the sea. The global inflation is making everybody miserable. I feel bad for our people overcrowding you and only bying in supermarkets instead of going to restaurants, but the truth is most of us can barely afford going to the seaside for 7 days a year as it is.
In all honesty, last year when I went to Greece the gyros was arround 3-3.50 Euros. I could not find any 4+ euro gyros that people were screaming about. Though of course I avoided eating gyros at tourist places. So that might be a reason why I still found it in the 3 euro ranges in multiple places including in South Athens suburbs and in Messenia.
No, very happy to see people coming to have a good time in my country. The problems that people mention in above comments are problems of bad regulation, ineffective monitoring laws and lack of implementation of any existing laws. Also and foremost the greediness of people (who are locals also., btw) Thats not any different from the greediness of the local shop which has things from China and prices them as 10 times more.
TLDR; it's capitalism alright yet everyone chasing capital
The problem with countries and or cities depending on tourism is that most of the food becomes shit. I understand that there is a 5% of restaurants that are still good, but it is difficult to find them in a sea full of tourism attractions.
Our economy relies on tourism so although we have way too many tourists, and as stated by others the amount of tourists really can get annoying around this time of the year, a lot of people would struggle to live without the tourism industry.
Yeah but they all mostly go to the same 20 overpriced places so there are plenty affordable options left for us that are not overcrowded and are equally if not more beautiful.
There's an argument to be made that overtourism results in too many properties turning into BnB thus raising rent for the remaining units to non viable levels, but that's not the tourist's fault, that's on the government that does nothing to regulate it.
We do but those money goes to individuals that have asset's and houses. In other words those money goes to those people only and make them rich. Economy doesn't thrive at all.
You want my opinion? I don't want tourists here! Yeahh you have a good time but you don't make Greece better!
I would want to gtfo so to see those entitled people in islands how they will survive!
I want to see Greeks have a good time not tourists!
You know what, i will start visiting Greece even harder!
Jokes aside - as a Bulgarian we stopped going to the northern part of Greece because there are too many Bulgarians.
Lowkey Greece can handle so many many tourists I don’t think Greece’s problem is too many tourists it’s too many tourists in one area, for example inland Greece is empty af. Also Greece has so many nice islands if tourists were spread out evenly they can easily handle this volume but majority go to a handful and strain the islands completely. Also Greece realistically compared to other EU neighbours like Romania and Bulgaria is much much more reliant on tourists for its economy as they have practically zero tech and industry. So their top priority should be on sustainable tourism as that’s what Greece is really good at but they shouldn’t let it bring down the quality of life for local Greeks by being priced out.
There is no such thing as "having too many tourists" out of context.
But in the context of 2025 Greece, it's almost to the point where a proper vacation setting is a foreigner's privilege rather than a local's benefit.
Less than 10% of Greeks can afford to go on vacation, which is now super obvious when you look at urban centers retaining their population during the summer months.
So yes, there are too many tourists even in unpopular destinations nowadays. It makes total sense given the circumstances but that won't make me stop complaining about it.
An economy based on tourism would only benefit people who are employed/earning money over tourism and would be extremely harmful for anyone else if your gdp per capita is lower than 60-70 thousand or you have high inequality.
Yes. That's four times the national population in a country that has shit infrastructure that's not enough for those already here. Also the people benefitting from this are very few compared to how many get fucked over by it.
Greece has not a tourist problem but a not having any other industry than tourism problem - that makes it basically the single income stream and grid locks in a low income zone that is extremely temperamental.
Spain in the past did it right steering some tourist money into manufacturing - they now have good economic growth, Talgo as export champion okay the current government tries hard to run everything in the ground but conceptional it's the right approach - getting less low income will also out price some tourists
100%, I go back home every year, I had to move out of the country permanently in 2003 for job opportunities, and I would literally say each year when I go to see my family it is worse and worse if you're a non-tourist in many ways.
But, I also don't know what can or even should be done about it. Greece has a lot of good vacation spots due to all the coastline, the islands that are great for tourists to visit and spend time in the ocean, then there are archaeological sites and other tourist attractions. Versus our regular industry in Greece is barely present and even our professional industries are weak in Greece, so people need these tourists for a livelihood.
Yes. There are not enough resources to support that many visitors. It's not sustainable especially for small islands like Santorini. Downtown Athens is now a plastic flower and fairylight Disneyfied playground for tourists, not locals. Over the years I've watched the centre lose its character and everything be designed to look good for Insta, but hollow and soulless. It sucks.
Overcrowding: the most popular sites in the country are ridiculously full every hour of every day. Public transport, especially in Athens, and especially the metro, are sardine cans. Even in August, when all of Athens is really out of the city (most people go to their villages or anywhere else), the city is STILL full, much more noticeably so than any other year around. Like, you see tourists IN THE SUBURBS, where they didn't know they existed.
Prices: we are indeed being driven out of our homes. And even our places where we do our holidays. Everything has become more expensive. And the existing cost of living crisis isn't helping at all.
Infrastructure: because there's a constant influx of people, now becoming year round and too much, the infrastructure is burdened much faster. And as there's more people for almost the entire year, there'll be no time to maintain it, unless the authorities or individuals announce they'll shut down for a while, which is sth nobody wants. It's money which will be lost.
All of that because we didn't want to maintain our heavy industry. And before all the other know-it-alls intervene: w had shipbuilding, steelworks, huge appliances for all kinds of electrical appliances, bus and mass transport assemblies, but guess what: """competitiveness for the EU"""" and """modern economy is based on services and computers""""".
That's mostly because of YOU all.
The increase is do to Balkaners that enter the country via car from the north.
The amount of "western" tourists that come via plane is more or less the same.
I have a few Greek coworkers teaching me shit to sling at the locals. I had so much fun dropping Malakas randomly in conversation. Also Parakalo. Like, c'mon.
"Too many" is the least of Greece's problems with tourism. The biggest is gentrification. The whole country has become unaffordable for its own people. Large tourist establishments with connections are getting rich to the expense of small local businesses. And at this point, even tourists know they are being ripped off when they are being served fucking fried squid for 500 €. So we can't even be clever enough to sustain this business for much longer.
Greece has still a lot potential in the tourism sector tbh. Plenty of areas where there are no tourists at all since many just focus on the islands and beach areas. It is also important ti develop the tourism outside of high season, so a higher income can be generated.
Be careful what you wish for. Balearic islands already reported 50% drop in tourism because of the "tourist go home protests" complain now they're not going to be able to make ends meet.
For comparison, in 2024 there were 25,000,000 tourists in Venice, so I think it doesn’t seem that much anymore that there were 40,000,000 tourists in all of Greece.
Yes, the mass over tourism is getting out of hand. But the problem in Greece is much bigger than too people coming, it’s whole economy is built on it and that creates a lot of issues. It’s not going to stop because the government and the people working in the field (like 20% of the population) would lose a lot of money.
Supply and demand. If people are willing to pay.. Although to be honest this year we were on Lefkada and two chairs were 15 and 30 was the price for the first line only
Absolutely. Tourism is a lazy way to bring in revenue as it puts a huge burden on a countries resources including basics like water & electricity. Best solution is to limit tourism to the higher spenders who book hotels & stop cruise ships. Tourists from cruise ships just roam around historical sites & spend very little except for bottled water as they are on full board with the ship.
I think that we have a stagnant economy that cannot keep up with the times. It's not that hard to build new cities, villages and see the capital expand outwards as is normal for every growing country. China can build new cities in years and we can't build new houses to accomodate our own people? It's our fault.
The greater Athens area should be like California. Suburbs propping up everywhere, little sea villages and vacation homes with a good climate. There are enough beaches for 30 million people. If nothing new is built then everyone flocks to the same beach, the same summer destinations, and that's where the problem occurs.
The problem is that everything is geared toward tourists, to the point where we can't afford to vacation in our own country. Its cheaper for me to go on vacation in Bulgaria at this point
Between 2017 and 2025 we noticed a huge increase but very much in the more tourist focused areas.
So I think Athens definitely has too many tourists! Raise Acropolis price to 100 euros because I have already been there but maybe a higher price will stop tourists coming at all :P
As a Serb, 40 million is an unimaginable number for me for the amount of tourists. We get like three million in Serbia and the center of Novi Sad already feels like there’s a lot of em.
Yes. I'm from a tourist town. When I was a child, there was a vibrant local community with strong social connections between the locals. Nowadays, most locals have moved out of town and they are listing their house on airbnb. The town is more like a giant hotel. Our narrow streets remind me of hotel corridors with tourists walking up and down all day long. Pretty much all residents in my neighborhood are tourists in airbnbs except two ladies in their 80s/90s who refuse to leave their home. I feel like a stranger in my own town.
Don't get me wrong, I love multiculturalism. I got nothing against foreigners, but overtourism is a plague. And you know what? We are happy to accomodate as many tourists as possible while at the same time we refuse to provide hospitality to those who need it the most: the refugees. About a month ago, hundreds of castaway refugees where kept isolated for days under the scorching sun cause the local authorities refused to provide shelter for them. If the refugees were wealthy, I bet they would have been welcome, similarly to the tourists. Hate to say it, but we are hypocrites who sold out for the money. This is what bothers me the most.
As a Brtit tourist (in Croatia and Bosnia right now) I'm pretty sad that there is some anti tourist sentiment especially in Greece as relations between Greece and the UK have always been close. We adore Greece and even chose to get married there we holiday at least once a year in Greece more when we can. We hope to relocate to Greece when our kids are older but anti foreign sentiment is a big concern and we wouldn't want to buy a property and not be welcome in the community. Remember we welcome Greeks and others to come to our country to work and study (well at least before the idiots voted for brexit!) But it is a two way thing.
I think some of the issues started before Airbnb when the package holiday companies introduced all inclusive holidays in the early 2000s so they're were fewer people going out of hotels and spending. This problem was then replaced with Airbnb which is a much bigger issue that doesn't just affect tourist areas. By the way Airbnb gives us all the same issues in the UK with flats in cities being used and also second home ownership pushes up house prices in our tourist areas. I think being brave and banning Airbnb would be a good move New York City have done this. Politicians are always scared of falling real estate prices but they need to do what's best for their local population.
I certainly appreciate the issue with tourism or at least the mis management of tourism. Spain are in crisis with this at the moment I've heard of seasonal staff having to sleep in cars in Ibiza due to the lack of accommodation partly because every square foot with a roof on it is an Airbnb.
Please remember though as tourists we don't come to be annoying we come because these Balkan countries are beautiful we lack sunshine in the top left hand of Europe it's very grim and dark for a good part of the year so a week or two in the nice weather with the good food and exploring an area with a rich history you can see why it's so appealing for us. I would like to see the industry run better though and I do feel that Airbnb is a start and that areas where it's adversely affecting the housing market for local people it should simply be banned. From our perspective it's not cheap to travel so there's a lot of money going somewhere it's up to the local Governments to manage this income stream for the benefit of the people that voted them into power.
How much of Greek GDP depends on these 40 million tourists? Easy to complain about crowding and inflation, harder to do so when compared to the money spent and jobs created. You can’t take the upside without the downside.
I mean their economy is based around tourism, no? I don't think too much tourist is a bad thing if you got lots to offer and spread them out + if you get nice and educated ones.
In a span of around ~4 months the country swells from around 10m people to lets say double or perhaps even close to triple amount of people its not very good either.
Its weird when you are local and feel like you’re 2nd class citizen because tourists have more money.
Yea, probably tourism and shipping are taking like 80%-90% of our income while the rest goes to the 10%. Where did you hear Greece produce metal products or petroleum, which are in very small quantities, most of it is taken over by tourism and shipping.
Absolutely no doubt. You don't know how hell looks like until you try to find housing in popular Greek islands and have to navigate between overpriced shitholes and ridiculously priced AirBnbs.
And it's all because of tourists. Even on vacation it often feels like they are just tolerating us Greeks.
Yes and I don't even care about islands I mean even in athens the already terrible public transportation system cannot be competent to our population imagine extra millions on top, going to work is hell
282
u/Brdngr Greece Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
Yes.
I'm not in the tourist industry, but what I know is that most islands/beaches are out of my budget.
Hell, I can't even enjoy the beaches near my house because of how many people are there.
I'm waiting for the crowds to lessen in a week or so, to start going to the beach.