While there are plenty of countries that rely rather heavily on tourism dollars to help power their economies, too much of a good thing invariably leads to problems. In fact, in recent years, in locations worldwide, the growing plague of overtourism is causing damage to the treasured cultural attractions that draw such overwhelming crowds in the first place, not to mention the harm to local communities.
Faced with escalating societal and infrastructural issues due to overtourism, federal and regional governments in popular destinations like Venice, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Dubrovnik, New Zealand and Hawaii are having to resort to legislating restrictive measures and formally regulating visitation at sought-after sites.
The latest to join this list is the Greece, which finds itself obliged to rein in the absurd amount of visitors now routinely descending upon the Acropolis in Athens. The 3,300-year-old monument, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and national—nay, global—treasure is struggling to withstand the unprecedented number of sightseers that have flocked there post-pandemic.
According to The Guardian, the out-of-control queues at the foot of the site and, “unruly scenes at the gateway to the sanctuary have spurred the Greek government to take action.” Last week, the country’s cultural minister, Lina Mendoni, announced, “Measures will be fully enforced by the end of the month.” She added, “Visits in June and early July alone increased by 80% compared to 2019.”
Some of the crowd control measures being implemented to mitigate chaos and ease congestion at the archaeological site include: time-slot scheduling requirements, special visitor zones to streamline traffic, fast-lane entry points for guided tourist groups and an electronic ticketing system.
PHOTO: Parthenon in Athens, Greece. (photo via Vasilis Protopapas / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
As is the case in many destinations afflicted by overtourism, the staggering swells of visitors that consistently sally forth from cruise megaships all at once contribute heavily to the trouble; in this case, at the Athenian port of Piraeus.
“In the past, these cruise ships had the capacity to carry a few thousand, the population of a large village,” said Lysandros Tsilidis, president of the Federation of Hellenic Associations of Tourist and Travel Agencies (FedHATTA), which fully supports the new measures. “Now the vessels are so big you’ve got the size of a small state on board and at least 30% of all of those passengers will have pre-purchased tickets to visit the Acropolis.”
Greece’s most-visited site, the ancient Acropolis reportedly draws more than 17,000 people each day. The 72-year-old Tsilidis told the outlet that, over the course of 50 years, he has watched Greece’s change from an already popular Mediterranean destination in the 1970’s to one of the world’s most-visited countries in 2022. “No one could possibly have imagined it,” he said. “Back then, Greece attracted 7 million tourists; now that number is more than 30 million, three times our population.”
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