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Athens is my city. I have been living here for most of the past 16 years, and like all long-term relationships, it is one in which I have fallen in and out of love. The Acropolis and the historic centre have attracted visitors for centuries, but more recently, an uncontrollable tourism boom has started to disrupt daily life.
Things were very different when I first moved in 2007 to a stone’s throw from the Acropolis Museum, which had not yet opened its doors. It was a sleepy neighbourhood with ample parking, fruit stalls within walking distance, and neighbours I knew by name. I could barely hear any noises at night. Back then, it felt like tourists were only shyly trickling in, and I welcomed them, feeling my city had previously been passed over as just a necessary stop on the way to an Aegean island. When Airbnb first appeared in Greece, I eagerly listed my apartment, acting as a free concierge so my guests could experience the spots I loved.
Two years later, when the economic crisis hit, the city centre bore the signs of a country in decay. Weekly strikes opposing austerity measures paralysed the centre. Often they were accompanied by demonstrations that would turn into violent clashes between police and protesters. Many shop owners moved elsewhere. Real estate prices plummeted, and visitors declined. In 2012, international arrivals in Athens airport were barely 8.4mn.
But as the country left the decade-long crisis behind, I was happy to see new stores open, coffee shops and restaurants taking over deserted spaces and the city refinding its groove. In 2019, Athens welcomed 17.8mn international arrivals. But since then, with a break during the pandemic, the shift towards tourism has accelerated, without a plan to protect residents.
Five new hotels have opened in the past four years in a narrow street off Syntagma Square, which was previously home to small shops and restaurants. “Most investments in Athens have to do with hotels,” says writer Nikos Vatopoulos, who leads walking tours of the city. “As positive as this is for the economic turnover, it is equally worrying for the future of Athens, which seems discouraging for the centre’s residents.”
In the first nine months of this year there were 14.9mn arrivals from abroad: an increase of more than 7 per cent on the same period in 2019. What used to be just a summer takeover has spread across the calendar: arrivals in January and February this year were double those in 2022. What differentiates Athens from other capitals is that tourists flock to a relatively small area. “It’s not only that arrivals have increased significantly, but tourists are found concentrated in a small radius around the Acropolis,” says Ioanna Dretta, president of Marketing Greece, an NGO supporting Greek tourism.
The landmarks of my daily life are now eroding, and I feel as if I am living in the dirty backyard of the Parthenon. In Plaka, my neighbourhood, my local hardware store has become yet another restaurant for tourists, and a car rental agency has replaced the clothes shop on the corner. I also battle daily with taxi drivers, minivans and double-decker buses parked illegally on the highway outside my house, creating traffic mayhem. Music from bars plays loudly until the early hours. Coffee shops and restaurants sprawl across the pavement, forcing pedestrians to squeeze between tables where people are trying to enjoy their lunch or coffee. Add the electric bicycles rented by tourists, and you can imagine the chaos.
Short-term holiday lets have not only destroyed neighbourhoods but also fuelled a housing crisis, as apartments are increasingly used for profitable leases. Unlike local authorities in Amsterdam and New York, which have moved to restrict Airbnb rentals, Greece has focused on taxing landlords who own multiple homes on short-term lets.
Change may be coming, however. Haris Doukas, the new mayor of Athens, elected this month, has promised to tackle the problems of tourism. Much hinges on whether he delivers. The danger, Dretta warns, is that growing discontentment among Athenians will filter through to visitors. “Tourism is an extension of the life of locals,” she says. “We can’t have happy tourists if we don’t have happy residents”.
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