Greece will hit cruise ship passengers stopping at the popular islands of Mykonos and Santorini in the wallet, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Sunday, September 8.
In an attempt to combat cruise ship traffic jams in its island ports, Greece is going to dig deep into its pockets. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Sunday, September 8, that a €20 fee would be imposed on cruise passengers stopping at the popular islands of Mykonos and Santorini.
Santorini, a key stopover for cruises in Greece for its famous sunsets, is close to saturation and the authorities are considering restricting access.Greece does not have a structural problem of overtourism. It has a problem in certain destinations, certain weeks or months of the year,” the Prime Minister said during a press conference held at an international fair this Sunday. “The cruise industry has come under pressure Mykonos et Santoriniso the price will be 20 euros,” he added without specifying when this measure will come into force.
Of the record 32.7 million tourists who visited Greece last year, about 3.4 million – or one in ten visitors – went to the island of Santorini. 1.3 million of them disembarked from some 800 cruise ships on the island, which has a population of just 15,500, according to the Greek Ports Association. By this measure, the prime minister means precisely “intervene in the number of ships arriving at a destination at the same time”, judging it necessary “to put the brakes on islands where we consider that the limits of the infrastructures are being tested.”
For summer 2025, a maximum of 8,000 cruise passengers per day in Santorini
This summer, the Minister of Tourism, Olga Kefalogianni, considered that it was necessary to establish “give quotas”, local authorities have already set a limit of 8,000 cruise passengers per day in Santorini for next year. “It is impossible for an island like Santorini to have five cruise ships arriving at the same time,” estimated the minister. Last year, Greece experienced record numbers of visitors, despite deadly fires and a long heatwave. According to Olga Kefalogianni, 2024 should be “another record year.” Vital to the country, the tourism sector represents almost a quarter of Greece’s GDP and employs one in five people.
Since spring, it is the city of Venice that has implemented a tax for tourists. On 29 days designated by the municipality, tourists must pay a tax of 5 euros to enjoy the City of the Doges. A ticket to also drop for each visitor who chooses not to sleep a night there. This new law particularly targets cruise passengers who only stop for a few hours in the city, crowding along the “riva dei Sette Martiri”. Since 2021, the city is the first city in the world to have banned access to the city center to gigantic cruise ships. Venice welcomes almost 30 million tourists per year for only some 50,000 inhabitants.
