Holidays 2025 more expensive than July. The country popular among Poles introduces a new fee
Greece, one of the most popular holiday destinations in Europe, introduces a new tourist fee. From July 1, 2025, passengers of cruise ships will have to pay an additional fee for going down in Greek ports. This decision is to help manage mass tourism, which has been putting pressure on local communities and infrastructure for years.
From year to year, Greece attracts more and more tourists, which is particularly felt by the inhabitants of the most popular islands, such as Mykonos or Santorini. For local communities, mass tourism has become a source of problems. Filled streets, water shortages, price growth and overloaded infrastructure are everyday life that residents have to face.
The Greek authorities decided to act. From July 1, 2025, the so -called Fee for descent ashore. Each passenger of a cruise ship, regardless of the place of departure, will have to pay 5 euros for descending ashore in standard ports. In the case of Mykonos and Santorini, the fee will be up to 20 euros per person, which is to reflect the scale of problems related to mass tourism in these places.
The authorities also provided for differentiation of fees depending on the season. In the period of low tourist traffic, from October 1 to May 31, the fees will be lower – 3 euros in standard ports and 12 euros at Mykonos and Santorini. The authorities hope that this approach will slightly spread tourist traffic over time and relieve the most crowded months.
The new system of fees aims not only to control the influx of tourists, but also a better balance of economic benefits with the needs of local residents. As reported by “editorial deutschland”, income from fees will go directly to local municipalities, which is to help alleviate the effects of mass tourism.
Residents emphasize that passengers of cruise ships often spend only a few hours on the Islands, without using local restaurants or other services, but only by doing quick shopping in souvenir shops. As a result, the largest profits go to foreign cruise operators, not to the local economy.
In many places in Greece there have been subtitles: “Respect us. This is your holidays, but our lives.” This is an expression of the frustration of residents who feel that their everyday life has been subordinated to the needs of tourists. Filled streets, noise and lack of privacy are just some of the problems they report. It even happens that tourists enter private properties, taking pictures without the consent of the owners.
