It is early morning in the picturesque village of Naoussa on the Greek island of Paros and jackhammers are already echoing as locals ready for what they hope will be a record tourist season.
After two bad years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourist numbers bounced back spectacularly last year and this summer the Aegean island hopes to do even better.
Construction sites are abuzz all across the fishing village with its whitewashed houses typical of the Cyclades.
Photo: AFP
“It’s crazy right now,” said local plumber Nikos Kritikos, hammering away at an old sewer pipe of a house under renovation. “Everyone is repairing, painting ... to be on time.”
At the house next door, where three new rental rooms were being prepared, workmen unloaded boxes of tiles and ceramic slabs from a truck.
Across the street, a complex with a swimming pool owned by a real-estate fund was taking shape.
Photo: AFP
Tourist arrivals in Greece hit 27.8 million last year, an 89.3 percent increase from the previous year, Bank of Greece data showed.
Revenue this year is expected to match that high of 17.6 billion euros (US$19.23 billion), the association of Greek tourism enterprises said.
“The tourist season this year will be the best ever,” said Paros Mayor Markos Kovaios, with the island’s permanent population of 15,000 increasing fivefold last summer.
Tourism accounts for nearly one-quarter of Greece’s gross national product and has been instrumental in helping to shore up the country’s economy during the pandemic.
However, as with other European travel hot spots such as Barcelona and Venice, some are beginning to wonder whether the tourism boom has gone too far.
“All for profit, no limits,” said Kostantis Haniotis, a cafe owner in the traditional village of Lefkes.
Nearby tourism complexes and luxurious villas are sprouting up, some tucked away in ravines.
“Tourist overexploitation” has brought a rise in the cost of living, Haniotis said.
In the past, Paros, like many other tourist hot spots, had some agricultural life, but today only a few olive groves and vineyards remain. And fishing has been changed by the tourism industry’s gastronomic requirements.
“In the 1990s families would build a house for their children ... now it’s non-stop building for tourists,” Kritikos said.
The plumber said he fears that his island would “turn into Mykonos,” the neighboring Cycladic island famous as a destination for the international jet set.
Another Cycladic island, Sifnos, earlier this month called on the state to rein in “unbridled” tourism growth.
On Mykonos in particular many fear the situation has gotten out of hand.
Last month an archeologist tasked with monitoring illegal construction on the island was badly beaten outside his home in Athens.
A Greek police squad is investigating the case.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis convened a special Cabinet meeting on the issue, at which he vowed to enforce building laws and improve policing on Mykonos.
“Having an island where certain people think they are above the law is inconceivable,” said Mitsotakis, who faces voters in a general election scheduled for May 21.
The chairwoman of the association of Greek archeologists, Despina Koutsoumba, said that state checks often come after a building permit has already been issued by urban planning officials.
Developers are not bothered by fines because there is so much money to be made, she said.
Jally Paraschi, who rents a villa in Lefkes, fears that overbuilding would cost Paros its “traditional character.”
“The road network is very limited and cannot change because available space has been taken up by construction,” Paraschi said.
Panagiotis Galanis, a lawyer specializing in town planning law, said that local authorities “are often lax for economic reasons.”
Kovaios said that a new town planning office was created this year on the island to “intensify controls,” but added that rising rents on the island are increasingly beyond the reach of civil servants and tourism staff.
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