Author Topic: Santorini 'saturated'  (Read 2708 times)

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Online Maik

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Santorini 'saturated'
« on: Tuesday, 29 August, 2017 @ 11:33:09 »


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This year close to 2 million holidaymakers will visit Santorini, lured by the beauty of a place transfigured by a volcano so great when it erupted in 1613BC it is believed to have inspired Plato’s telling of the legend of Atlantis.

Almost no other place in Greece – with the exception of party playground Mykonos – can lay claim to such success. In a country humbled by crisis – where 23% are unemployed and are often unable to pay basic utility bills – it is an achievement that other parts of the tourist-dependent country can only dream of.

Half of Santorini’s visitors will fly in on charters and private jets direct from European capitals. More than 850,000 will arrive on the gargantuan cruise ships that moor daily in the crescent-shaped isle’s volcanic sea-filled crater.

For the first time 141 hotels – up from 35 in 2013 – will stay open this winter, prolonging the season and ensuring local people cash in on ever-growing profits. It is a scene far removed from the gruelling 1950s, when mass migration followed a devastating earthquake that resulted in most of the island’s merchant elite fleeing to Athens. Electricity only arrived in 1974. Memories of poverty are still visceral and real.

But success has also brought suffering.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/28/santorini-popularity-soars-but-locals-say-it-has-hit-saturation-point