Overrun Athens: How the Greek capital is finding solutions to the tourist influx

With tourism booming year-round, Athens' local resources and residents are feeling the strain.

Transcript

00:00Cities around Europe are taking measures one after the other to combat over tourism.

00:06For the last two years, this issue has also plagued the Greek city of Athens.

00:12A few years ago, the goal was to have tourists in Athens year round.

00:17Now the goal has been achieved, but at what cost?

00:21Experts say we need to have rules to regulate tourism levels.

00:25Many areas of Athens and of Attica have been abandoned.

00:31A typical example is Koukaki, a beautiful area that has been transformed

00:39into a large economic quadrangle of a short-term salary,

00:46a place of hospitality for foreigners only.

00:49There are no more families, there are no more students in schools.

00:58In 2023, Athens was welcomed by more than 7 million tourists,

01:03and this year the number is expected to increase by 20%,

01:08making the image of empty Athens in August a distant past.

01:12This increase affects many aspects of the city's social life, and not always positively.

01:18Renting prices have skyrocketed all around Athens,

01:21particularly in districts with decent access to public transport,

01:24which serves to attract tourists.

01:26The co-founder of a real estate solutions company says it's all about offer and demand.

01:31In the real estate sector, there is a huge problem with the offer of real estate.

01:37The demand for real estate is five times higher than the offer.

01:42Barcelona recently took measures against short-term renting.

01:47Athens wants to take it a step further by considering a more holistic approach.

01:54All this effort by tourism leaves very little to the city.

01:59Think about it, every visitor leaves 0.4 euros per capita in the city.

02:06Not for the day, but for the whole day.

02:08And we haven't taken that money yet.

02:11And July has arrived.

02:13What do I mean by that?

02:15I mean that we have to find a way to do it in a sustainable way,

02:18so that there is no further increase in inequality in the city.