Be notified of the latest news in the Sol app! Download for iPhone here and Android here!
– The truth is that the island is empty. It no longer resembles what it has been before. This is the worst season ever, says Gianluca Chimenti to CNN.
He is a local tour operator on the island and has lived on Santorini for 18 years. Now he has had enough of the media’s focus on overtourism on the island.
Just last week, Sol.no quoted several international newspapers stating that the island was packed with tourists and that the situation was “out of control” in the Greek paradise.
The images resemble more of queues and rush hour. Photo: REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
Show more
Pictures showed narrow alleys overcrowded with tourists and packed viewpoints for taking photos of the famous sunset on “Instagram Island”.
Earlier in July, the mayor of the island, Panos Kavallaris, urged locals to stay indoors.
– A new difficult day for our town and island awaits as 17,000 tourists arrive from cruise ships. We ask that you limit your movements as much as possible, the mayor wrote in a Facebook post, and locals were outraged that they were asked to seek refuge while the tourists flooded the island.
Tourist invasion on Greek island: – Out of control
– Does not exist
But Chimenti believes the problem lies elsewhere and fears the media reports scare tourists from coming to the island.
– Overtourism does not exist. What I see is a lack of structure, he tells CNN.
He believes that the images in the media and on social media do not show the whole truth, but only the busiest times at the island’s most popular spots.
– The problem is that social media shows something completely different than reality, Chimenti tells the American news giant.
According to the local tour operator, the occupancy of the island’s hotels and restaurants is now 30 percent lower than what is normal for a season.
Tourist cap
Last year, 3.4 million tourists visited the island, which has about 20,000 residents, and overtourism has long been a theme on the island.
Earlier this summer, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis admitted that Santorini is suffering and announced a cap on the number of cruise visits to the island from next year.
Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni has also expressed the same:
– We must set a cap, because it is impossible for an island like Santorini to have five cruise ships arriving at the same time. Local authorities have set a cap of 8,000 cruise passengers per day from next year, but not everyone agrees.
