Santorini Island: Hyper-tourism VS Sustainability

 Stories of Sustainability

Lesson 5: Santorini is Too Beautiful!

Santorini is among the most popular, and most beautiful islands in all of Greece, and indeed the world. An active volcanic history gives it it’s unique crescent moon shape, miles of dramatic beaches with deep red, black and white sands, and a 3000 year history preserved in pyroclastic ash.

A popular destination for people from around the world, it’s picturesque white and blue buildings and narrow streets bathed the Mediterranean sun have become the iconic look of the Greek islands, despite many islands having the same build landscapes. Visitors crowd beaches, cafes, restaurants and yachts to take in the scene, particularly for sunsets on the caldera.

The millions of visitor who pulse through the island each year provide a livelihood for the islands 35,000 permanent residents. They are also a stress on the islands natural resources like fresh water, as well as energy and waste systems. While many will tag Santorini as a destination success story, with nearly four million visitors in 2023, the elected leadership is actually calling for a halt to all new development!

And they have the data to prove it! I spoke with the President of the Municipal Council of Santorini, Geogina Nomiko, who I immediately liked, as she greeted me with two beautiful spreadsheets.  The first looks at tourism increase overall by ferry, air and cruise. The other the other examines the change in types of accommodation, from 5 star to 1 star.

While both data sets generally showed an increase, a deeper examination shows a more complex picture. While cruises were the primary means of arrival in 2013, the percentage of arrivals by air has now surpassed it. What this means for Santorini is that drastically more visitors are spending the night on the island, instead of sleeping on their cruise ship.

A closer examination of the types of accommodation data finds that while the overall number of beds is increasing, the increase is not even. Five star beds have increased by nearly a factor of nine, while there's only half as many one star beds compared to ten years ago.

According to Nomiko, these two data sets demonstrate what locals have been feeling, that prices for accomodation has gone up, and there are a lot of tourists. In fact, because of the influx of high end customers, it can be difficult for civil service folks like teachers, to find affordable housing. This is one of the reasons that Nomiko and other elected leaders of Santorini have been sounding the alarm for over-tourism since at least 2017.

Of course, there are challenges to such a bold move, the primary one being that this kind of authority to limit development comes from the central government, not the municipalities like Santorini. Generally, Greece's central government has been heavily promoting tourism, aiming for 40 million in a couple of years. Despite this, there are growing concerns from across Greece about the dangers of hyper-touism. Is Athens listening?

Fortunately, I don't need to figure that out, but I have put together a lesson plan to help students understand the power of data, and consider the role of data analysis in decision making. According to Nomiko who provided this data, "You have to know the facts before making policy decision." I couldn't think of a better example of my entire project.