As development changes the nature and culture of the Greek islands, local residents retreat
As a flood of foreign visitors fuels seemingly nonstop development on once-pristine Greek islands, local residents and officials are starting to fight back, trying to curb a construction boom that is starting to cause water shortages and change the island's unique cultural identity.
Tourism is crucial in Greece, accounting for a fifth of the country's economic output, and communities on many islands depend on it. But critics say development has gotten out of hand in some areas, especially on islands like Mykonos and Paros, where large-scale hotel complexes have mushroomed in recent years.
Teachers and other professionals on this and other Cycladic islands, a popular cluster in the Aegean Sea, have struggled to find affordable housing amid an influx of visitors and homebuyers, leading to growing protests from locals over the impact of unbridled tourism.
The islands, which are at the forefront of Greece's tourism boom, are facing increasingly urgent calls to preserve their natural and cultural heritage.
The number of foreign arrivals in Greece broke another record in 2023, with 30.9 million in the first ten months of the year, according to the Bank of Greece – an increase of 17 percent on the previous year and higher than tourism levels before the pandemic.
To meet this demand, 461 new hotels opened in Greece's southern Aegean islands between 2020 and 2023, according to data from the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, compiled by the Athens-based Research Institute for Tourism. According to the institute, 126 of these were opened last year.
The proliferation of swimming pools has put serious pressure on water supplies on Cycladic islands such as Sifnos and Tinos, and the aggressive expansion of seaside bars across pristine beaches on many islands has sparked a backlash from locals.
Conservationists and architects are also leading the charge to preserve the Cyclades' character, which they say is at risk of being erased amid a real estate-driven homogenization of holiday destinations.
The Athens-based Museum of Cycladic Art, which exhibits the unique marble figurines that were produced on these islands in ancient times and influenced the course of Western art, works with local authorities and associations with the same goal.
Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni recently promised that unfettered growth would no longer go unchecked.
“We have a clear vision and goal for the sustainability of destinations and of our tourism product,” she said at a conference in Athens last month. She said that in the future there would be greater emphasis on protecting the natural environment and cultural identity of individual destinations, with legislation being drawn up to support that effort.
Those pushing for change are not convinced.
“It's very easy to talk about sustainable development, but all they actually do is approve new investments,” says Ioannis Spilanis, former secretary general for island policy at the Greek Ministry of Shipping and now head of the Aegean Sustainable Tourism Observatory .
Mr Spilanis, a native of Serifos, was one of several experts who addressed a conference in Mykonos in November on how tourism has “radically changed” the Cyclades. The event was organized by local authorities who recently appealed to a top Greek court over a project for a five-star hotel complex and a superyacht marina. (The court allowed the development but limited the size of the marina.)
Nikos Chrysogelos, a former member of the European Parliament from the Ecologist Greens party who launched a sustainability initiative for the Cyclades, said developers overlooked the Cyclades' special features and treated them as suburbs of cities.
“You used to see farm buildings and dry stone walls – there was harmony in the landscape,” said Mr Chrysogelos, a resident of Sifnos. “Now you see roads, hotel complexes, high walls. It could be Dubai or Athens.”
Nikos Belios, a high school principal and head of the local farmers' and beekeepers' cooperative, said Sifnos had experienced an influx of investors “from all over the planet, who built colossal structures, like fortresses, with huge walls” to accommodate to the rich. tourists.
“They arrive, load up their Cayennes, Jeeps or Hummers and lock themselves in,” he said of the tourists. “They have no interest in Sifnos – it is a dot on the map for them.”
Last year, Maria Nadali, the mayor of Sifnos, urged the Greek government to curb “dizzying” tourism development – including banning the construction of more private swimming pools and “cave houses” built into mountainsides, a trend that according to her, the island's 'morphology and unique architectural physiognomy' changed.
The Museum of Cycladic Art is also involved, trying to help the islanders protect the island's natural environment and heritage. The museum organizes programs on eight islands, with topics including preserving the ancient marble quarries of Paros – the source of many Cycladic antiquities – and documenting and promoting traditional water management practices on Andros.
“We are trying to help them protect their heritage,” said Cassandra Marinopoulou, CEO and president of the museum, citing the main threats as increasing tourism, the abandonment of local traditions and the effects of climate change.
The initiative also aims to support cultural tourism on the islands, with digital walking tours and the promotion of local gastronomy, said Ms Marinopoulou, whose family is from Andros.
“We don't want Cycladic food to disappear because the younger generations sell the family tavern and it becomes a sushi bar,” she said. “What a visitor wants is authenticity. They don't want to see something they saw in Ibiza, that's not authentic.”
Amid the glut of five-star hotels, some companies are trying to promote 'slow travel' as an alternative model that supports local communities rather than sidelining them.
One of them, the travel startup Limitless living, introduces foreign visitors to local culture with pottery workshops, visits to textile factories and Greek lessons. “When choosing new Boundless locations, we are keen to identify and protect cultural gems,” said Elodie Ferchaud, founder of the travel startup, which has brought dozens of foreign families to Syros for three-month stays.
But many Cyclades residents say a complete overhaul of Greece's tourism model is needed.
“We have to find a way to survive,” Mr. Spilanis said. “Destroying the property you're sitting on is not the way.”