“Magnificent” but invaded by tourists, Athens’ Acropolis suffers from its success | the world

On the footpath below the holy rock, hundreds of people, water bottles in hand, wait in the scorching morning sun in front of the entrance gate.

“We didn’t expect such a large number of tourists in June, we thought it would peak in July,” Australian tourist and sales assistant Jackie Zachary told AFP. “The Acropolis is wonderful, but (…) the number of people is too high”, adds American Caroline Gudek, a customer service operator in her thirties.

In fact, after two seasons affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and a good year in 2022, viewership has soared due to the early start of the season. In May, 14,000 to 17,000 people a day visited the Parthenon temple at the top of the Acropolis, according to the Organization for Archaeological Resources Management (ODAP).

Its director Ilyas Batsarouhas promises an increase of up to 70% compared to May 2022. According to Greek statistics (Elstat) at this time last year, traffic to the site had already increased by 85.7% compared to 2021. Since April, the average number of visitors each day has reached the level of August 2022, at the time of the annual tourism “peak” in Greece, he notes.

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Greece is betting on tourism, which represents nearly a quarter of its gross domestic product, to revive its economy, which has been shriveled by a decade of financial meltdown. Industry experts believe this year will surpass the record number of 31.3 million tourists registered in 2019.

Although some, like France or other Mediterranean countries, are warned by the wrongdoings of “overtourism”, the season starts earlier and earlier in Greece. As a result of the influx of visitors, they still have to be patient, even after winning their precious entry ticket. A second row awaits them at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Propylaea, the monument at the main entrance to the sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Athena.

Often visitors would be so crowded in the Propylaea that “the guards had to interrupt the entrance for a certain time so that the space would be freed”, acknowledges Ilias Patsarouhas. Congestion is particularly high when passengers disembark from cruise ships crossing the Aegean and Ionian seas, often stopping at nearby Piraeus. In this case, “there can be 2,000 to 3,000 people per cruise ship, and people are waiting for more than an hour,” fumed Ioannis Mavrikopoulos, the site’s custodian for thirty years.

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According to UNESCO, the crowds are fueling discontent among tourists rushing to admire “the most extraordinary architectural and artistic ensemble presented by ancient Greece.” “At the top of the mountain, we are piled up, lost, and have to wait 20 minutes to visit the monuments,” laments Caroline Gudek.

“The infrastructures are not suitable” for such a large number of visitors, and Ioannis Mavrikopoulos underlines. The German NGO World Heritage Watch (WHW) considers it essential to develop a “management plan and tourism plan” for the Acropolis, its president Stefan Tompke told AFP. He condemns “years of excessive tourism” which “risk” weakening the ancient site if nothing is done.

In full enclosure, the construction of a concrete footbridge over a protected rock base to facilitate visitor access raised many and strong criticisms. Ilyas Batsarouhas says the Ministry of Culture is considering setting up visiting time slots for groups and isolated tourists. The aim is to secure them for the next tourist season.