2024 was a record year for Greek tourism, Greek media note. At the same time, the authorities in Athens are working to tighten the regulations on short-term rentals; tourists will not be allowed to make basements and warehouses available to tourists. This is another European country that is changing regulations on the rental market.
Short-term rental in many European countries is a reason for dissatisfaction among local communities. It is considered one of the main causes of high rental prices. Authorities, including in Italy, Spain, FranceGreat Britain or Netherlandsintroduced restrictions, such as setting a limit on the days when a property can be rented to tourists.
Greece tightens regulations on the rental market
Greeks perceive tourism as, on the one hand, an important economic factor, and, on the other, as a cause of rising costs, unequal benefits and a threat to the environment. People want to improve infrastructure, extend the tourist season, fair regulations on short-term rentals and develop sustainable tourism.
Last week, the Greek government presented a project to tighten the regulations on short-term rentals. They provide for, among others: ban on renting renovated warehouses, windowless basements, and post-industrial spaces to tourists. Such facilities are to disappear from rental platforms.
Authorities in the fall decided to freeze the licensing of new Airbnb properties in three central districts of Athens for a year and announced the imposition of €20 fees on cruise passengers arriving on the islands of Santorini and Mykonos.
Athens, GreeceJose HERNANDEZ Camera 51/Shutterstock
Tourists visit Greece
In the past year Greece 41.6 million tourists visited, 22.4 percent more than a year earlier – estimated in a PwC study discussed by the media. Official data from the Bank of Greece have not yet been published. Tourism remains the main pillar of the Greek economy and is responsible for approximately 13%. GDP annually – reports eKathimerini.
More than half of the revenues come from guests from Italy, France, Great Britain, German and USA. Greece competes for tourists' attention with Spain, Italy and Turkey.
The islands of Santorini and Mykonos, which are popular among tourists, are facing problems resulting from excessive tourism and climate change. Some European tourists have started choosing destinations with milder weather conditions and travel outside the season.
Protests in Italy
In turn, in Italy, in recent months there have been frequent protests in many cities against the growing number of short-rent apartments for tourists.
Italian rental property owners oppose actions against excess tourism, such as tearing down key lockers. “Sabotage and acts of vandalism are illegal; we are ready to report such cases,” warns their association.
In Poland, at the beginning of October, the Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, also announced stricter regulations regarding the rental market. “Let's limit short-term rentals like Airbnb (one of the online platforms – ed.). Apartments are not intended to make quick profits. They are a place to live,” she wrote on social media.
Main photo source: Apostolis Giontzis / Shutterstock