“Atene non può funzionare come un gigantesco hotel”: il sindaco promette di salvare il capitale dall’overtourism

Honestly can’t blame Athenians, the centre already feels like an open-air Airbnb lobby. Even just capping short‑term rentals per neighbourhood could help a lot. Are locals actually being listened to on this?

I was actually in Athens last May and it was an absolute blast. The history is incredible and the locals are some of the most welcoming people you will ever meet. But even as a tourist, you can visibly see the damage that unregulated tourism is doing to the city. Almost every residential apartment block we walked past had multiple Airbnb lockboxes hanging on the doors.

It is completely unsustainable. You cannot just let wealthy investors buy up all the affordable housing to use as short-term vacation rentals, and then act shocked when local workers and young families are completely priced out of their own neighborhoods. When a city becomes too expensive for the actual people who run the cafes, clean the streets, and maintain the culture, the city loses its soul and just turns into a giant, overpriced theme park.

The mayor is absolutely right to step in and freeze these development permits. Good on Athens for following Barcelona’s lead here. Housing needs to be treated as a basic human necessity first, and a corporate investment vehicle second.

Hoe about a giant B&B?

Tourists want to bring their money to athens. They’re dumb for rejecting it.

This is part of an ongoing global problem, and no-one seems to have come up with a solution. Poor Venice is literally bursting at the seams and still no solution in sight. The jet fuel shortage will reduce tourism temporarily, but if people have money they’ll still find a way. As an occasional tourist abroad, the only thing that would put me off is the availability of accommodation – remove this and it largely solves the problem. Then you’d need to build more accommodation outside the main centre and maybe start charging for tourists to come into the historic centre, or area of contention: think of it as an extended tourist attraction. The Government then has to *absolutely* force price reductions to locals buying properties for their own, *full-time* use.

Did they ban short term rental or not yet?

I hope they get a clue on Spain.

I’ve been to Athens few years ago and what struck me was not the amount of tourists (same as any med city) but the amount of refugees/illegal immigrants and shanty towns/squats sprinkled around, some areas were almost unrecognisable

They could do worse than analyse what we did in Edinburgh and then do the opposite.

We love visitors coming to our city, and welcome them with open arms, but it has taken its toll in short-term lets and degraded infrastructure. The “visitor tax” seems like an excellent idea, and I’m glad it’s finally being implemented here.

lol