Destinations around the world are increasingly taking measures to manage the increasing inflows of tourists, particularly when it comes to cruise visitors who bring little value to the places they disembark on, but heavily increase pressure on local infrastructure.
The idyllic island of Santorini saw 11,000 cruise passengers in just one day on 23 July, far above the 8,000 maximum tourists it can sustainably welcome, if spread throughout the day, according to a 2018 University of the Aegean study. To the residents’ outrage, a now deleted social media post from the president of the Thira municipal community urged locals to not move around the city too much on that day, to make way for the cruise visitors.
The Greek government has been talking about limiting the number of cruise ships allowed to dock at popular island destinations, such as Santorini and Mykonos, but with no decisiveness in sight, the Mayor of Santorini, Nikos Zorzos, has revealed what he plans to do at a local level to ease the burden on the island.
Addressing cruises, Zorzos told the Greek Reporter that he is bringing back a digital berth allocation system, which spreads cruise arrivals throughout the day to avoid masses descending on the island at the same time. The system was first introduced in 2018, during Zorzos’ previous term, guided by the University of the Aegean study, but was halted in 2019 by the following administration.
Those 8,000 visitor arrivals per day suggested by the University of the Aegean study are totally sustainable if we allow the designated time between cruise ship berths, thus preventing congestion at all spots on the island.
Nikos Zorzos, Mayor of Santorini, told the Greek Reporter
“The Santorini digital berth allocation system takes qualitative criteria into consideration for granting berth and debarkation permissions—such as the size of the ship and whether it operates as a green ship or not. Also, the length of the stay is examined; we prioritize any [ships] that wish to stay longer hours on the island, as this means that their passengers won’t be rushing from one spot to the other”, the Mayor explained in the interview with the Greek Reporter.
Commenting on a recent government proposal to increase the cruise debarkation fee on popular islands from €0.35 to over €10 per person, Zorzos said he would only support the measure if the additional revenue went to local administrations. He also condemned the fact that municipal authorities do not have the power to implement their own tourist fees, saying he would be in favour of a daily tax, similar to the one Venice introduced on the busiest days this year.
Also condemning the government, Zorzos said it should stop issuing permits for “irrational tourist development”, which “consumes the place and reduces its advantage as a destination”, adding that “overbuilding” makes resources like water and electricity scarce.
It is our duty to protect this land from getting its identity altered.
Nikos Zorzos, Mayor of Santorini, told the Greek Reporter
Regardless of what the government is going to do, or not do, the mayor explained he also plans on extending the tourist season, promoting gastronomic tradition and cultural tourism to attract more visitors during winter. “There are tried and tested solutions for extending the tourist season. Our past initiatives had managed to reduce the pressure of the summer months; show tourists unseen aspects of Santorini; and prove that this is an island worth visiting beyond the summer months”, he explained.
Meanwhile, Zorzos has revealed plans to update local infrastructure to ease the burden on locals, who have been complaining about masses of tourists congesting traffic and using up all the parking spaces. “We have already commissioned studies for small bypass roads that will not harm the landscape any further but will facilitate the decongestion of areas. We are also planning the creation of new parking spaces in order to alleviate the problem that exists today”, the mayor said.
Last summer, the island saw 63 “peak days”, when visitor numbers exceed 10,000-11,000. This summer, that number has been reduced to 48. Zorzos’ plan will take time to have an effect, it just remains to be seen how big an impact it will be.
