Letter from a Canadian tourist in Athens
Like many other European countries which suffered from the post-pandemic serge in European-travel this summer, Greece is struggling with an issue of overtourism.
The tourism industry makes up about 25% of the Greek GDP, and employs one out of five of its working population. It would be easy to assume that locals are celebrating the rise in tourism. However, overtourism causes serious concerns for the quality of life of many locals and, unsurprisingly, not everyone is happy.
As a tourist, I was happy to see how welcoming and helpful locals were with me; whether it was helping with directions in the street, their friendly service in restaurants, or their willingness to chat and go for drinks in the evening. Nonetheless, I could not help but wonder how this kindness was possible when it felt like Athens was overrun by tourists.
I was able to chat with some locals who opened up about how overtourism has led to a serious housing crisis in their city. Notably, they complained about unfair rent increases. One young Athenian, Andreas, whom I met in a coffee shop one morning, told me about how he was forced to leave his apartment because the landlord wanted to turn it rent it out on Airbnb.
Andreas recounted that in Koukaki he paid around 500 euros per month for his two-bedroom apartment. However, through Airbnb, his landlord is able to rent out the apartment for about 100 euros a night, making the equivalent of one month’s rent in under a week. He explained that as a result, many people have taken to purchasing property for the sole purpose of renting them out to tourists.
The government’s income tax system is such that property owners’ taxes are more than doubled, from 15% to 35%, if income derived from the leasing of real estate property is over 12,000 euros. Consequently, Greek owners tend to only rent out their properties during the summer (the high season for tourism), where they make the maximum possible revenue and then leave their properties vacant the rest of the year to avoid being taxed above 15%.
The money we pay for Airbnbs goes directly to a particular person, which negatively impacts the revenues of the tourism industry
This phenomenon drives the prices of rent up for locals who can no longer find affordable accommodations in their own city. In Canada, we have a similar issue resulting from international property investments. In Montreal, the pricing of housing is comparatively lower than in other big cities across the world. This has attracted many international buyers in the past few years. The increase in the amount of buyers effectively drives up the price of housing in the French metropole, and locals are now unable to purchase or rent properties.
Luckily, the Canadian government enacted the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act on January 1, 2023. In an attempt to stabilize the market and its pricing for locals, this act prohibits non-Canadians from purchasing residential property for two years.
While Greece’s problem mainly stems from overtourism, it is not the only country struggling with a housing crisis. Therefore, the Greek government might similarly benefit from enacting laws to regulate the housing market. Notably, the government could follow in New York City’s steps and enforce strict rules on how and when residents can rent out their homes using platforms like Airbnb. For example, Greece could require a minimal rental period of one month or require hosts to register with the city before being able to rent out their properties for the short-term.
Such restrictions would help to stabilize the housing market and give back some of the renting and purchasing power to the local residents.
As tourists, we need to be more aware of such realities. The money we pay for Airbnbs goes directly to a particular person, which negatively impacts the revenues of the tourism industry. If a tourist puts their money into staying in a hotel, part of those expenses are at least used to pay the employees.
Ultimately, it is clear that overtourism is cause for concern when it comes to people’s living conditions. Many other problems like the lack of proper infrastructures and drinkable water are serious threats to the country’s stability.
SARAH ASSALIAN
