Overview
- This week the Greek government unveiled a coordinated package of rules intended to curb mass tourism after a record 2025 season that drew nearly 38 million visitors.
- New limits include a 100-bed cap for new hotels in heavily visited hotspots, minimum plot sizes of eight to 16 hectares for developments outside official building zones, and a 25-meter coastal building ban with narrow exceptions for access or rescue paths.
- The rules single out popular islands such as Mykonos, Santorini, Kos and Rhodes for the strictest controls to reduce peak-season overloads on roads, water systems and waste services.
- Researchers at the University of the Aegean found that some islands reach peak-season population densities higher than the Athens metro area and warned that tourism is stretching water, power, waste and housing beyond capacity.
- A ministerial decree is due to come into force at the end of June, but officials are still defining enforcement details and the new controls could reshape local economies by limiting new tourist bed supply while increasing pressure for public infrastructure investment.