Popular Greek holiday island to burden cruise passengers who are for tourist tax today

Cruise holidaymakers will now be confronted with a substantial new tourist tax to visit two GreeceThe most popular islands.

From Tuesday 1 July 2025, cruise passengers will be charged € 20/£ 17.14 to visit Santorini and Mykonos.

The new tax will be charged during the peak holiday season, which runs until 30 September.

It has been introduced to tackle overtourism in some of the most popular destinations in the country.

Santorini and Mykonos both often get overcrowded in the summer and each receives thousands of cruise tourists a day.

The reimbursement was initially established to be introduced on 1 June, but was postponed until July after Santorini saw a decrease in tourism after the earthquakes Earlier this year.

Cruise holidays pay the reimbursement when they are divided from the tax on the tax on the tax on the tax on the ship and the funds are divided between tourism and infrastructure projects.

From Tuesday 1 July 2025, cruise passengers will be charged € 20/£ 17.14 to visit Santorini (shown above) and Mykonos

Santorini (shown above) and Mykonos are both often overcrowded in the summer and each receives thousands of cruise tourists per day

And the islands are not the only Greek ports where tourists are charged.

Cruise passengers are taxed € 5/£ 4.28 to visit all other ports of Greece during the high season.

In the shoulder season (between 1 April-May and 31 October and 1-31), cruise guests in Santorini and Mykonos € 12/£ 10.28 and € 3/£ 2.57 will be charged at all other ports.

The reimbursement for the rest of the year is € 4/£ 3.43 on the two most popular islands and € 1/86p elsewhere.

The new tourist tax of Greece comes after a record year for the country’s cruise sector.

The Hellenic Ports Association (Elime) registered 5,490 cruise ships, with 7.93 million passengers in Greece in 2024.

Piraeus, the harbor just outside Athens, saw the highest number of arrivals, with Santorini Second and Mykonos completing the top three.

The tax is not welcomed by the port authorities in Mykonos. Spend against Greek reporter, Athanasios Kousathanas-megas, the president of the Mykonos Port Fund, said that the tax was a ‘curse’ for the economy of the island.

The new tax will be charged during the peak holiday season that runs until 30 September

He said: “I believe that the price difference will cause problems when choosing a cruise ship from 2026.”

Mykonos expects to organize 900 cruise ships this season with tourist appointments that are expected to reach 1.5 million.

And cruise passengers are also on a tourist tax on another European top destination.

Norway has announced that local authorities will be able to charge a three percent levy on overnight stays and visitors to the cruise ship.

The tax will be launched in the summer of 2026 and is designed in response to surpass in the Nordic country.

Cecilie Myrseth, the Norway of the Trade and Industry Minister, said the Norwegian broadcaster NRK: “It is not the case that we have tourism throughout the country all year round, but in some places there are parts of the year that are particularly demanding, and the costs that the residents have to pay are particularly high.”