Tourist invasion on Greek island – residents left inside | World

Last week, Santorini city councillor Panos Kavalaris urged locals on the Greek island to “restrict their movements” due to the record number of tourists:

“Another difficult day for our city and our island as we expect 17,000 visitors from cruise ships. We ask for your attention: limit your movements as much as possible.

Which angered many local residents.

“Locals are asked to stay indoors, so tourists can roam freely.“One person wrote on Facebook.

The politician's post was later removed, but the damage had already been done.

“It’s a great honour,” says Georgios Damegos, who runs a hotel on the island. Reuters:

– It is a fact that our standard of living on the island has declined. Needless to say, when the number of visitors has increased by 20 times. What kind of infrastructure can you have on this small island, without creating a monster?

“Drowning in overtourism”

Pictures from the holiday island show tourists crowding along narrow alleys, many equipped with selfie sticks. daily Mail Reports say there is a 20-minute wait to enter the beautiful cliff-top village of Oia.

There are 20,000 permanent residents on the 70-square-kilometre island of Santorini. Last year, a total of 3.4 million people visited the island, according to Reuters.

For several years, voices have been raised to limit the number of tourists. Santorini Mayor Nikos Zorzos had previously said that Greece must set limits “if we do not want to drown in overtourism.”