According to the latest tourism figures for Greece, several of the country’s islands are seeing record numbers of visitors. Crete tops the list with a record 2.9 million international air arrivals—up 6.7% compared to the previous year. Another popular destination, the Dodecanese islands, has welcomed 2.4 million visitors, an 11.4% rise compared with last year. However positive these figures may seem. However, the question of “who benefits” is a gnawing concern.
We’ve over-used the term “over-tourism” over the past several years. Headlines for Greek tourism this week tell of Santorini’s Mayor Nikos Zorzos warning for the 12th consecutive year of his island’s overtourism catastrophe. Back in 2012, National Geographic ran a story entitled “Out of Chaos”, in which Zorzos was the visionary hero set to turn things around for Greece’s most famous island. So far, things have only gotten worse, and not only for Santorini.
A Development Tsunami
Here on Crete, overtourism and overdevelopment have nearly destroyed any semblance of the unique traditional Cretan experience the world has read so much about. We’ve discussed this issue dozens of times, and we’ve confronted officials and hotel owners as well. The fact is, these people are immune to criticism in the same way Greece’s politicians are. The reality is that people with money and power can do whatever they want. Crete and Greece, overall, are a mockery of democratic ideals. While the big boys wine and dine with a free ticket, the ordinary citizen is nothing more than an enslaved person. I know this sounds course, and impossible, but the proof is in the quality of living and the relative profit for employers and the government.
My wife and co-editor of Argophilia recently reported on Apokoronas, Crete, and the cataclysm being created by over-development and misuse of resources. If you look at the screenshot above via Google Earth and factor in that hundreds of local citizens go without water for days and weeks, you’ll begin to envision how big and small Greek islands will be ruined forever. You see, once tradition and culture have been destroyed, and once villages become ghost towns due to infrastructure and economic problems, no one can bring them back. Once thriving traditional villages are now either deserted or inhabited mostly by the elderly who have lived in the village their whole lives. But the situation stretches beyond a few scattered traditional villages. Rural Crete, and Greece overall, is losing its core charm, or its heart, if you will. About 60% of the population now live in urban areas. And as for the wealthy hoteliers and investor types here, none of them I have ever met (dozens) wants to discuss exapanding hospitality horizons beyond the . Now, let’s run through some figures and realities the media does not often share.
Greece & Greeks Commoditized
In Greece, the average hospitality worker’s salary is just over 1,000 euros per month, or about the same as someone working in a hotel in Guatemala. A progressive tax system gives these workers a bit of a break, but about one-fifth of everything workers make goes back to the government. What makes matters worse in Greece is the 24% VAT rate applied to almost everything these workers purchase. When the tourism season ends, most of these workers must go to the olive groves, farms, or freelance jobs. This is why Greece has such an exodus of skilled and semi-skilled workers.
The banana republics of Central America offer better opportunities. So, ten million new tourists to Crete will do nothing for the people here. They will do as they always have – just survive. Oh, and before I forget, Guatemala’s personal income tax rate is 5%. In Costa Rica, people making more than the average Greek pay no tax. And get this: Costa Rica’s healthcare system is ranked higher than the United States. And while Greece’s doctors, research, and innovation rank very high, the overall system is a shamble. But let’s refocus on who wins and loses when tourists ruin Greek islands.
Meanwhile, foreign and domestic hotel entities are exempt from the 15% annual real estate tax, and VAT for hotel services is only 13%. And the politicians? Well, I am told by good authority that the whole municipal council of the Apokoronas Municipality gets free cars and gas. I assume this must be customary for all municipalities in Greece, but we will have to check. What makes this so onerous is that most of these officials border on malfeasance of office, or at the least downright laziness and apathy. Get this: the people living in the village where Zorba the Greek was filmed seldom have water. Complaints are met with scorn or indifference while geysers of water stream into the streets from scores of busted water mains. As for the rubbish and waste system there, what was a paradise overlooking Souda Bay is now a trash pile.
The Curse of “Now” Profits and Profiteering
Many ask, “But who makes the money?” This is a good place to point out that the richest 1% of the Greek population holds as much wealth as the poorest 50%. Furthermore, the richest 10% holds about four times the wealth of the poorest 50%. So much for Greek oligarchs, but the foreign profiteers seem to do even better. The headline via GTP gives us another clue. “TUI: 2023 Revenue Reaches Record Level, 2024 Bookings Point to Strong Season,” tells us the company exceeded the 20-billion-euro profit mark for the first time ever in 2023. TUI did this with hotels and cruises, tourism facets that bring little or nothing to retailers, restaurants, and the villagers.
Even retail shops on Heraklion’s busiest pedestrian streets are closing down or running 60% off sales. An optician friend told me some weeks ago, “Retail is dead, Phil.” Looking over TUI’s financials (PDF) for 2023, I found several pertinent facts. Other than the several tourism companies the German company is 100% vested in, the most chilling statements concern what the company is prepared to do when global warming makes Greece and Turkey too hot. The company is ready to shift to the Baltic Sea when travelers find Southern Europe too uncomfortable. TUI is behind the whole extended season craze Greek tourism officials harp about, but the following quote reveals the corporation’s true soul:
In addition, our business model is flexible to offer new destinations based on changing weather conditions, e. g. more travel to destinations around the Baltic Sea. We continue to monitor these trends and embed them into our strategic and operational planning.
This is for shareholder confidence and not for public knowledge. But you can see how Crete and the other Greek isles are being plundered. You can also understand why politicians talk about the problems for decades without lifting a finger to correct the downward slide. They are elected to do just that – nothing. The problem is there is no master plan. According to Professor Katerina Kikilia (at left), head of the Department of Tourism Management at the University of Attica (UniW): “Greece needs a master plan’ and must ‘be more selective’ to ensure tourist spending rises as much as arrivals.” Take note of “select tourism”, which is exactly the opposite of what TUI and its subsidiaries do.
Inestimable Loss
Kikilia points out that the long-term strategy should be focused on something other than increasing tourist flows but on growing revenues and the quality of tourism. Another problem the professor addresses is the housing stress caused by short-term rentals. Kikilia is not for eliminating Airbnb-type rentals, as in Barcelona, but for limiting the number and types of rentals. This would alleviate rising housing costs for locals and toggle downward the current trend of overdevelopment of villas with pools. This, in turn, would put less stress on sensitive areas like Apokoronas in Crete’s Chania Prefecture.
Finally, I agree with Dr Kikilia’s assertion that more sustainable (even regenerative) tourism should involve alternatives, such as “wellness, culture or rural and mountain tourism, along with the lesser-known places in the country that have strong tourism potential.” I would add that limiting the number of new beach all-inclusive hotels in the future would save pristine areas and ensure more profit for hoteliers whose vision extends to the long term. Many places in Crete, and other Greek islands, are already irrevocably ruined to suit a specific class of tourist. We will not even get into the explosion of cruise tourism to the Greek isles or the plans to make Crete into a giant battery here. However, one question can cement my contention that the “plan” for Greece is to use it to the last drop of Greek blood. Who books at 7 day cruise for about 1200 euros per person (171 euros per day all-inclusive), that hits Marmaris, Turkey; Piraeus (for Athens), Greece; Souda (for Chania), Crete; Thira, Santorini; Kusadasi, Turkey; Mykonos Town, Mykonos; and Marmaris, Turkey?
I leave the reader to ponder all I’ve pointed out.
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