The seaside village of Katapola on the Cycladic island of Amorgos has lost its usual tranquility in recent weeks. 1er August, the MSC-Explora Ia cruise ship with 461 suites, of titanic dimensions (248 meters long, and 32 meters wide), has cluttered the calm waters of Katapola Bay. Current port facilities do not allow the ship to moor at the quay, so small boats transport passengers to shore. Although it has only been there for twenty-four hours, it is due to return on August 28. And this does not delight some locals, who do not “do not want Amorgos to follow the same path as the islands of Santorini and Mykonos, overwhelmed by tourism”.
Greece welcomed 32.7 million tourists in 2023, 18% more than in 2022, and the Greek Ministry of Tourism predicts a new record for 2024. According to the Institute of the Hellenic Association of Tourism Enterprises, the total contribution of the sector to the country's economy in 2023 is estimated at around 30% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and around 40% of jobs are directly or indirectly linked to tourism.
In Amorgos, as in other islands, the dependence on this industry is even greater. According to the mayor, Eleftherios Karaiskos, “90% of the population has activities linked to tourism”. The number of tourists has doubled in the last six years and in 2023, 100,000 visitors – 75% of them during the summer – stayed on the island, which normally has fewer than two thousand inhabitants. Torn between the undesirable effects of overtourism and the financial windfall that the sector represents, the islanders are divided.
“Overdevelopment”
Theofanis Paschos owns a 13-room hotel in Katapola, and his business employs his two children. “If there were tourists all year round, more families could stay living on the island and wouldn't have to go to Athens to find work. We don't want to become Santorini or Mykonos, but we still have room to grow!”believes the sixty-year-old.
But Eleftheria Psychogou, a member of the hoteliers' union, does not share this opinion: “In Paros, a lot of construction has been allowed in recent years, and the island is no longer the same, changes are coming fast… We are concerned about excessive development on some of the Cyclades islands.” Between 2018 and 2023, about 1,300 building permits were issued on the island of Paros, which has a population of 14,500. Paros now has more construction sites than Santorini or Mykonos.
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Source: Lemonde
