Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is mulling action against cruise overtourism on the islands of Santorini and Mykonos.
The PM has promised action to curb the rise in cruise ship traffic.
Speaking to Bloomberg, he revealed specific measures to limit the number of cruise ships is on the cards from 2025.
This could be via a bidding process for limited berth slots.
According to the Hellenic Ports Association, there were 800 cruise ship visits to Santorini in 2023, and almost 750 in Mykonos.
The Greece cruise industry grew by 23% last year.
The PM also cited opposition from other tourists staying in hotels.
“There are people spending a lot of money to be on Santorini and they don’t want the island to be swamped,” he said.
“Santorini is the most sensitive, Mykonos is the second.”
Similar actions are growing across Europe’s big tourist hotspots with Venice, Barcelona, Mallorca, and Amsterdam all taking action to curb the negative impacts of cruise ship tourism.
