The Greek government has vowed to clamp down on cruise-liners stopping at its ports, amid concerns that overtourism is “exhausting” popular holiday hotspots.

Around 33 million people visited the country in 2023, some five million more than in the previous year, with holidaymakers drawn to the southeast European nation’s beautiful beaches, cuisine, and wealth of historical sites.

Greece has also seen a sizable spike in cruising, with seven million people visiting aboard 5,230 ships last year, compared to 4.38 million passengers and 4,614 cruise ships in 2022, according to the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO).

In a bid to tackle the impact of overtourism, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on June 14 that the country is set to reduce the number of cruise ships permitted to call at popular islands, including Santorini and Mykonos.

The measures would be brought in to put a cap on cruise liners and bring down the footfall on the Cycladic Islands, which he said are “clearly suffering”.

“I think we’ll do it next year”, the PM said. It’s hoped that putting a limit on the availability of anchoring slots and berths could help ease the pressure faced by Greek ports.

Under the measures, vessels would have to enter a bidding process to secure the slots, Bloomberg reports.

Mitsotakis told the outlet Santorini is the “most sensitive”, followed by Mykonos.

Last year some 800 cruise ships made stops in the Aegean to visit Santorini, a favourite among European sunseekers. As many as 1.3 million passengers visited the island, which is estimated to have a population of just 15,000 permanent residents.

Meanwhile, almost 750 cruise ships dropped anchor in Mykonos in 2023 – a 23 percent increase on the previous year.

“There are people spending a lot of money to be on Santorini and they don’t want the island to be swamped,” Mitsotakis said.

He added that the island “can’t afford it, even in terms of security.”

The tourist industry accounts for a quarter of Greece’s economy, and the number of visitors has grown in the wake of pandemic, with close to 33 million visitors coming to the mainland and islands last year.

Tourist build ups have been a growing concern – Princess Cruises previously decided to remove some Santorini stops from its Sun Princess itineraries this summer citing “cruise chip congestion”.

Other countries are also moving to limit the impact of the cruise industry on local culture, with Italy moving to ban cruise ships from the Venice lagoon in 2021, following warnings from Unesco.