“It is a unique island and one can experience luxury in all its aspects, not only in accommodation and services”
OR Santorini is one of the islands of Greece, which has a world-wide reputation and what is heard about it has a strong impact. Much was said during the season about the tourist traffic, but the island continues to receive tourists and be a pole of attraction until October. However, images of overcrowding, during the high tourist season, from the massive arrivals of cruise ships, caused concern and concern. for hypertourism phenomena. This, however, as the mayor of Thiras Nikos Zorzos mentioned, speaking to the Athenian and Macedonian News Agency, is a problem that will be solved by regulating the cruise.
“The island remains one of the most special destinations, thanks to its geo-environment and attracts a large portion of “quality” tourists. What is needed is for it to continue to grow in a sustainable way. When it comes to cruising, in 2012 I used the word saturation. Cruise control must be present. The previous municipal authority abandoned it, so starting this year it will be re-regulated”, noted the mayor of Thiras.
For the president of the Santorini Hoteliers’ Union, Antonis Pagonis, Santorini did not face a problem of overtourism but “there was overcrowding and poor organization, as happens everywhere, where mass buses go. This can happen, for example, in the Acropolis. It does not concern tourist traffic in its entirety”, pointed out Mr. Pagonis.
One of the important issues pointed out by the mayor of Thiras is to stop construction and mainly to limit short-term leasing. “We want, in cooperation with the relevant ministries, to limit short-term renting and to make use of the housing stock. We need houses for doctors, teachers, etc. It is the state’s obligation to regulate it, either by giving incentives or the resources for the local government to take action”, noted Mr. Zorzos. As he said, “there cannot be a clear picture of the number of beds, the figures so far speak of 17,000 hotel beds and another 40,000 in rentals and short-term leases, but I say this with reservations.”
“In terms of tourist traffic, we had an increase in visitors, as can be seen from the number of arrivals at the airport, but also an increase in beds, which lowered demand and prices”emphasized the mayor.
For his part, Mr. Pagonis, estimates that the island this year did not have the same traffic compared to previous years and that the factors that negatively affected tourist traffic were the general economic problem, the major sporting events of the summer (such as the Olympic competitions) and some infrastructure issues but as he emphasized “with proper planning the island will not have a problem in the future”.
“What has affected over time, and not in relation to last year, is definitely the short-term lease. In 2014 it was zero and now the declared short term rental is 14,000. This does not only affect the hotel and the rental apartments but it really affects the residential use in Santorini and the transformation of our own settlements”, Mr. Pagonis pointed out.
Regarding construction, he said that from 2020, the possibility of building a hotel outside of the plan has stopped until the spatial planning is completed. “We are waiting for the new zoning, because that way we will have an idea of what will happen in the next 20-30 years. We emphasize, however, that it cannot be prohibited to build a small hotel unit, of the order of 20 or 30 rooms, and at the same time to give permission for a house of 200-300 m2 which will change use and become a short-term lease. After all, Santorini has many small hotel units, which are mainly family businesses”, he underlined.
Regarding luxury tourism, Mr. Pagonis, speaking on the sidelines of the 2nd Luxury Tourism Conference “The luxury side of Greece”, emphasized that Santorini, together with Mykonos, are the flagships of Luxury tourism. “It is a unique island and one can experience luxury in all its aspects, not only in accommodation and services but also in culture, wine tourism, gastronomy.”
