Holiday warning issued to those travelling to Greece

Greece remains a holiday staple for many Brits to visit. Not only does it have beautiful beaches, stunning islands and delicious food the weather is pretty great too.

Crete, Mykonos, Athens and Santorini are just a few tourist hotspots that travellers keep coming back to time and time again.

However, those who plan on travelling to the country in the future may want to make a note.

Greece and many other tourist destinations, which have been in the news recently, are buckling under the strain of the sheer number of tourists visiting each year.

This has led local authorities to announce a policy to stop over-tourism and ease the number of people visiting during peak season.

The policy, which will see a €20 (£16.8) tourist tax introduced, will see those travelling to Santorini and Mykonos pay the fee when they arrive specifically on a cruise ship.

Greece’s economy relies heavily on tourism with the industry producing €20billion (£16.8million) in revenue in 2023.

However, those 20,000 residents living in Santorini want tourism numbers to be limited.

Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis told The Telegraph: “Greece does not have a structural over-tourism problem [but] some of its destinations have a significant issue during certain weeks or months of the year, which we need to deal with.

“Cruise shipping has burdened Santorini and Mykonos and this is why we are proceeding with interventions.”

The money produced will be reportedly put back into local infrastructure investments with a regulation on the amount of cruise ships arriving at the same time in certain locations also being considered.

It comes as a social media post from a local councillor from Santorini went viral in July. They urged residents to stay indoors to accommodate the 17,000 cruise ship passengers expected that day.

The post was later deleted, but not before sparking widespread outrage among locals and rekindling the debate on over-tourism, both within Greece and internationally.

Destinations including Venice in Italy and Bali in Indonesia have recently introduced a tourist tax earlier this year.

Meanwhile, New Zealand and the EU plan to bring in a new tourist tax rate by the end of the year or 2025.