UK tourists slam ‘Europe’s most beautiful island’ wrecked by overtourism

A UK tourist visiting “Europe’s most beautiful island” has slammed the destination as having been wrecked by over-tourism.

Santorini – known since ancient times as Thira – is one of the most famous islands in the world.

It forms the southernmost part of the Cyclades. Its sunsets have been described as magical, and many a romantic evening can be spent with breathtaking views of the sea and the iconic white and blue houses. 

But with such fame, come many, many crowds. Approximately two million tourists visit the Greek island every year.

For many Brits, these mobs that now descend via ferry boats and cruise ships – often for just one day – have ruined their holidays. 

According to Cruisecritic, a Tripadvisor company, as many as seven cruise ships can dock at once, which could result in over 14,000 passengers if at full capacity. One likened being in the narrow passageways of Oia to the “woodcut of Dante’s Circles of Hell with the condemned souls shoulder to shoulder as they funnel down to the bottom”. 

However, by 2025, Greece is set to reduce the number of ships that can call at the islands, such as Santorini and Mykonos, in a bid to tackle over-tourism.

One recent tourist told The Express that “no amount of sunsets or white walls or blue domes will ever make Santorini worth the money”. They argued it has been “ruined by rip-off merchants” and over-tourism.

From April to October, the iconic and beautiful walkways of Olio are packed with thousands of visitors, all wanting to take pictures of the same spot. 

“In peak season, it’s busier than Penn Station at rush hour,” said the island’s former mayoral advisor, Lukas Bellonias, in a 2019 conversation with Greece Is. 

According to Bellonias, this steep rise in visitors has been driven by social media. He said: “Before, you’d only show vacation photos to your close friends and family. But now, people share them with thousands.”

Even five years ago, mobile network companies struggled to provide enough coverage for the number of people taking and uploading images during the peak summer months, Bellonias added. 

The UK tourist continued: “We’d hardly been on the island for 10 minutes when we spotted hallmarks of all the worst tourist hotspots: an Indian restaurant in the Med, a dispensary selling 100 percent legal cannabis, a seedy sex shop.”

Once they had reached Fira, the capital of the island, they had to fight their way through “the knockoffs and the Americans and the selfie-stick flailers”, in a scene they said made “Leicester Square look like the Garden of Eden with an M&M World”. 

This tourist was not alone in such sentiments – Santorini veterans agreed that one’s money is better spent elsewhere. 

Another previous visitor said they had visited Santorini in the early 1980s when it was “unspoilt” and there was “no ripping off” – “a true ‘Greek’ experience”. 

“Sadly all this is long gone. Now it is a tourist trap.. today cruise liners dump thousands onto the island every day… all ripe for scamming.”

Another agreed that “it was a different world and so much nicer” 40 years ago.