Tourists visit the ancient site of the Acropolis on June 14, 2023 in Athens (AFP / Louisa GOULIAMAKI)
An ancient site listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Acropolis of Athens is overrun with tourists to the point of worrying some who are calling for measures to stem the flow of visitors.
On the paved path below the Sacred Rock, hundreds of people, water bottles in hand, wait in the blazing morning sun in front of the entrance gate.
“We did not expect such a large number of tourists in June, we believed that the peak would be reached in July,” said Jackie Zachary, an Australian tourist, a sales assistant by profession, astonished to AFP.
“The Acropolis is magnificent but (…) the number of people is overwhelming”, adds the American Caroline Kutek, in her thirties, customer service operator.
In fact, after two seasons marred by the Covid-19 pandemic and a good year in 2022, the number of visitors has skyrocketed due to an early start to the season.
In May, between 14,000 and 17,000 people a day came to admire the Parthenon temple, at the top of the Acropolis, according to the Organization for the Management of Archaeological Resources (ODAP).
Tourists visit the ancient site of the Acropolis on June 21, 2023 in Athens (AFP / Louisa GOULIAMAKI)
A jump of up to 70% compared to May 2022, assures its director Ilias Patsarouhas.
Last year at this time, traffic to the site had already recorded an increase of 85.7% compared to 2021, according to Greek statistics (Elstat).
Since April, the average number of visitors each day has reached the level of August 2022, at the time of the annual tourist “peak” in Greece, he specifies.
– “Overtourism” –
To revive its economy weighed down by a decade of financial debacle, Greece has bet on tourism, a sector which represents nearly a quarter of its GDP.
Tourists visit the ancient site of the Acropolis on June 14, 2023 in Athens (AFP / Louisa GOULIAMAKI)
Industry experts hope this year to exceed the record number of 31.3 million tourists recorded in 2019.
While some, like in France or other Mediterranean countries, are alarmed by the harmful effects of “overtourism”, the season in Greece is starting earlier and earlier.
And as a consequence of the influx of visitors, they, even after having won their precious entry ticket, still have to be patient.
Because a second queue 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 are so tight at the Propylaea that “the guards have to interrupt the entrance for a certain time so that the space is freed”, recognizes Ilias Patsarouhas.
Tourists visit the ancient site of the Acropolis on June 14, 2023 in Athens (AFP / Louisa GOULIAMAKI)
Congestion is particularly intense when passengers disembark from cruise ships that crisscross the Aegean and Ionian Seas and often stop at nearby Piraeus.
In this case, “there can be 2,000 to 3,000 people (per cruise ship, editor’s note) and people wait more than an hour” to be able to enter, indignant Ioannis Mavrikopoulos, guardian of the site for thirty years.
– “We pile up” –
The crowd arouses discontent among tourists who rush to admire “the most extraordinary architectural and artistic ensemble bequeathed by ancient Greece to the rest of the world”, according to Unesco.
Tourists visit the ancient site of the Acropolis on June 14, 2023 in Athens (AFP / Louisa GOULIAMAKI)
“At the top of the hill, we pile up, we get lost and we have to wait 20 minutes to visit the monuments,” laments Caroline Kutek.
“The infrastructures are not suitable” for such a large number of visitors, also underlines Ioannis Mavrikopoulos.
The German NGO World Heritage Observatory (WHW) considers it essential to develop “a management plan and a tourist plan” for the Acropolis, according to its president Stephan Doempke, to AFP.
He denounces “excessive tourism for many years” which weakens the ancient site “in danger” if nothing is done.
Tourists visit the ancient site of the Acropolis on June 14, 2023 in Athens (AFP / Louisa GOULIAMAKI)
In full confinement, the construction of a concrete footbridge on the protected rocky site to facilitate access for visitors had aroused numerous and strong criticisms.
The Ministry of Culture is considering setting up visiting time slots for groups and isolated tourists, says Ilias Patsarouhas.
The objective is to put them in place definitively during the next tourist season.
© 2023 AFP
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