Greece is in the middle of an anti-cruise rebellion, with locals complaining about over-tourism and trashed streets
Athens: Boats full of tourists who arrive on the island, crowd the streets, and leave trash have led to the “worst season” ever, locals say.
It’s a story mirrored across Europe this summer, with anti-tourist protests breaking out in famous hot spots.
In Barcelona, locals have sprayed holiday-makers with water pistols and shouted at them to go home, blaming them for the city becoming unlivable due to high rent prices and apartments being turned into Airbnbs.
Vivian Antypa, an archaeologist and tour operator in Athens, told Business Insider that she loves working in tourism and meeting people from all over the world. But her job has become “challenging” recently.
“The government hasn’t put any limitations to the number of people that can visit the monuments,” she said, except for the 20,000 person cap to the Acropolis, which was implemented last year.
All the other archaeological sites in the city are “extremely crowded,” Antypa said.
“This, of course, affects the quality of our work, the experience of the people,” she said. “It can be dangerous due to the hot Greek weather.”
The number of tourists visiting Greece increased by 120% between 2019 and 2023, Fortune reported, with 33 million tourists heading to the country last year.
Antypa said overtourism in Athens is a problem because the city can’t accommodate the large numbers of people in the high season.
As a result, the center is full of traffic and crowds, which makes it hard for locals to live their daily lives.