The deserted paths split the green mountain ranges that outline the horizon of Amorgos. Clinging to the foot of an ocher cliff for a thousand years, the immaculate monastery of Chozoviotissa faces the Aegean Sea. Not far from there, secluded coves that served as the setting for the divers in the film in 1987 The big Blue, by Luc Besson, contributed to the notoriety of this easternmost island of the Cyclades, in Greece. Accessible only by boat, Amorgos charms tourists with its wild appearance.
This timeless little paradise, dotted with white villages with 2,000 souls, still seems untouched by mass tourism. But the threat looms. In five years, the number of visitors has doubled each year to reach 100,000. Above all, the municipality intends to continue to develop this sector. His latest project: the expansion of the main port, Katapola, nestled for fifty years in a picturesque bay. For now, only small boats and a few ferries dock at its 60-meter pier. “There are no parking spaces, no shelters for passengers, which creates big security problems when the ships arrive”, justifies the mayor, Lefteris Karaiskos. And it’s not going to work out. “We estimate that the number of tourists will increase by 30-40% in the next three years, due to the popularity of Amorgos.” The project to build a ring road, in particular, will relieve congestion in the bay. It will make it possible to moor larger ships, such as the Blue Star Delos ferry, with a capacity of 2,000 passengers, and to accommodate “small-scale” cruises, swears the mayor, “of a maximum of 200 people”.
The end of regulated tourism?
Already, this project is arousing a revolt among the inhabitants. Even tourism professionals, yet the island’s main economic windfall, are struggling on the issue. For Irène Giannakopoulos, manager of the Aegialis hotel, where guests do yoga facing the sea, “this project is necessary because the tourists are already there!” Conversely, Rania Thiraiou, owner of another establishment, protests against a “destructive” project. The small port of Katapola was the guarantee of regulated tourism. Expanding it is “opening the floodgates to mass tourism”, she says, already imagining the imposing cruise ships invading the bay to pour in streams of visitors continuously. “This project marks the death of our identity. This influx will distort Amorgos. In August, the island already reaches its maximum capacity of visitors, she assures us. We do not need to transform the port. It is only overloaded in the summer, it is possible to make more reasonable arrangements.”
Amateur of Amorgos, Jean-François Rial, CEO of World Travelers, abounds in this sense: “We are going to kill the goose that lays the golden egg! Visitors come to Amorgos for its authentic side.” According to him, the local authorities are giving in to the sirens of cruise passengers, an essential component of mass tourism, which continues to develop between the Greek islands. “When these large, highly polluting boats dock, hundreds of people disembark at the same time. Amorgos does not have the infrastructure to absorb them.”
On the small island of 120 square kilometers, we fear the metamorphosis into “Santorini or Mykonos”. Often cited in Greece as dystopian symbols of mass tourism, the two neighboring islands of the Cyclades are drowned in the flow of visitors in summer. “It’s a disneylandisation of the place, regrets Jean-François Rial. These islands are so saturated that the big cruise lines prefer to set sail for still preserved destinations like Amorgos.” Favorable to ethical travel and respectful of the environment, the one who also chairs the Paris Tourist Office believes that this massification is “harmful to travel and meeting”. However, this is not inevitable: “95% of tourists are concentrated in 5% of the places on the planet, it is possible to change that.”
The case of Amorgos is just one example among many. In 2022, some 28 million visitors have chosen this country of 10 million inhabitants, renowned for its beaches and its ancient remains. On the ground, the list of disastrous consequences of this mass industry grows longer every year. Ecologists warn about pollution, archaeologists denounce illegal constructions on protected sites. Greeks can no longer find accommodation in certain tourist areas, as the inflation – already high – is encouraged by the strong tourist demand.
In the Cyclades, a port project divides the island of Amorgos, facing the risk of mass tourism.
© / NurPhoto via AFP
Mass tourism increasingly questioned
“These phenomena previously affected very localized destinations, but they are spreading dangerously across the country,” warns Stathis Kalyvas, professor of political science at the University of Oxford. Thus, in the center of Athens, the construction of hotels is increasing, sometimes to the detriment of sacrificed public spaces, while the central districts are gentrifying and traditional shops are giving way to bars and restaurants. The Acropolis is overwhelmed by the arrival of visitors – 16,000 during the summer. Stathis Kalyvas is worried about this “myopic overexploitation of resources” to the detriment of the inhabitants. The development of mass tourism represents, according to him, a real dilemma: “It combines incompatible objectives: to continue to ensure access to these places for ‘locals’ while increasing tourism revenues.” A problem that can be observed elsewhere in Europe, such as in Barcelona, Venice or Etretat. “The Greek summer, a concept specific to our country, which consisted of traveling by ferry, sparingly, without planning anything, has disappeared, he adds. It has become a marketing object to attract foreigners. And politicians don’t curb the trend.”
Deaf to the warnings, the government of New Democracy (on the right), recently re-elected, is delighted with the development of this industry. Far from applying a regulation, it multiplies the announcements to extend the tourist season until winter. At the end of 2022, the Greek Ministry of Tourism launched an advertising campaign in English. On a poster representing two pensioners facing the sea, it was written: “Feel 20 again?“The figure refers both to an age, 20 years, and to the Greek temperature in winter, 20°C, made milder by climate change.
“After years of austerity, the government touts tourism as the economic locomotive of Greece. But this does not benefit everyone: the profits go mainly to foreign investors. This sector, which adapts to the needs of foreign customers before those of the inhabitants, cannot be the only source of income for the country”, warns Nicholas Theocharakis, professor of economics at the University of Athens. After fifteen years of rigor, the daily life of the Greeks remains difficult. The minimum wage is 780 euros while food inflation, on the rise across the EU, stands at 12%. According to a study by the consumer research institute Ielka1 in 2 Greeks cannot afford to go on holiday this summer.