Greece’s Major Tourist Markets Balk at €20 Tourist Tax Plans

On Wednesday, several key tabloids from the United Kingdom reacted strongly against Prime Minister Mitsotakis’ plans to implement a steep €20 tourist tax in an effort to combat ‘overtourism’ in several of Greece’s key tourist destinations.

Notably, the Mirror and Express, which reach a broad working-class audience, highlighted Greece’s plans, along with a ‘warning’ from a major German travel operator, German Travel Association (DRV), that the tax will drive Germans to other holiday destinations.

The reaction comes as Europe’s travel operators make plans for where they will drive their customers for the 2025 tourist season, and tourism ministries from throughout the world gear-up to advertise their offer at the annual and influential World Travel Market London (WTM) event, to be held this year from November 5-7.

According to the tabloids, the tourist tax is cast in an unfavorable light and will target Greece’s destinations “overwhelmed this summer by colossal waves of tourists”, as well as Airbnb properties.

Although the tabloids do not cite precisely when the Prime Minister made the announcement over the new tax, the news is not ‘new’ and has been widely covered in Greece since the start of September, when the PM announced his economic plans at the 88th Thessaloniki International Fair.

The statement from DRV, which seems to be driving the ‘bad press’ for Greece, cautions that so many tax increases in a short amount of time will divert Germans to other tourist destinations, such as Spain and Italy.

The new steep levies, which are the source of consternation, are a new €20 cruise passenger fee for those heading to Santorini and Mykonos, and Greece’s ‘climate resilience fee’, which was implemented for the first time during the 2024 summer season.

Germany and the United Kingdom are two of Greece’s most significant tourist markets, and are consistently among the largest group of visitors to Greece. Although Greece boasts that 2024 has been its ‘best year yet’ for tourism and is working on decoupling itself from major tour operators and diversifying the source of its tourist, any decrease in shares from Germany and the United Kingdom could spell bad news for Greece.