Suffocating Santorini
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Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
British (General)Transcript
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DW in the heart of the sick lard is the whitewashed island of Santorini is off everyone's bucket list. I'm staying in a trendy Kaldor cave. Oh, tell Ania, an epicentre for the island's tourist hordes. Above me, the famous blue Don't churches and whitewashed hotels glitter under the assault of 1000 flashlights as crowds congregate on the castle above to cram their instagram feeds with the sunset views for which year is renowned. As the sun finally descends over the spectacular volcanic crater there, cheers and wolf whistles, it's as if the Santa Rini son itself has become a performer for the tourist hordes. It's hard to imagine that barely 30 years ago, this 76 kilometre square island was a haven of peace and tranquillity, like Venice and Barcelona, Santa Renea, struggling to control the flow of tourists that are threatening to damage the fragile eco system of the island irremediably, according to a recent study by the University of the Aegean, concrete on Santorini covers around 15% of the volcanic Attles total surface, compared to an average 1% on surrounding islands. Battling with traffic to get to the office of mayor, Nickels lures us in the island's capital. Fear a You really just see how big the problem is. Here is not yet the high season, but already the narrow streets of congested with coaches and vans battling for right of way. With cars of residents and tourists arriving at the town hall, it takes me half a Knauer just to find somewhere to park the car. The beauty of Santorini is its landscape, and the overdevelopment leads to thousands of problems. The first is that we face a ll the problems of the big city, even though we are not designed to be a big city. What a deal with these problems for local authorities in Greece also do not have the power and means to do things. We have to ask central government to regulate local problems. We have almost 1.8 million visitors a year. But if the municipality has a lack of human resources and because of the current economic crisis, we can't employ more people. A new law was meant to change things, to give more power more means to local authorities. But the central government blocked it. So we are back to square one this after the I learned that the situation is further complicated by local inertia. Mayor's orders explains that even if he attempts to implement simple measures such as one way streets to regulate traffic, he faces lawsuits from local businesses that are often opposed to change. Water is another huge problem on this island, where traditional systems dating back to the Cycladic civilisation, circa 3100 to 1600 BC have bean largely abandoned and private homes. But also hotels and businesses rely on water that's Ferried over from creaked or obtained through the salinisation and illegal well withdrawals. So there is only one type of water here desalinated. Now we have signed another contract to build another desalination plant, the biggest in Greece, delivering 5000 cubic metres off drinking water per day. And that will only cover a part of the island's needs during the last four years has increased its water needs by 110% and Akrotiri by 410%. We need to stop the construction of new hotels fairly tio we in a stop. But in order to prevent land being used for building yet more hotels, Santorini needs to find viable alternatives to traditional tourism on the island. One possible solution is wine. There's the global demand for Santorini. Wine outstrips supply. Vine cultivation, encouraged by European Union grants, is starting to offer an alternative and more ecological use for local there. With some 1300 hectares of this 7600 Hector Island now planted with fines instead of being bulldozed to build Mohr hotels, Another new initiative that is changing the face of local tourism is Santa Rini Walks, a project created by owner Nikos Sportiness four years ago. They network off really, really creating paths, but nobody seems to be walking. A lot of them, unfortunately, are deteriorating. The condition is basically not very good. The terraced gardens the terrorist feels not used to cover the island in its entirety are not there anymore, so they don't grow crops anymore. And the roots are not their support. Storey back in fear, A town I meet, Lauren Siegel, who in affiliation with Hong Kong Polytechnic and the UK is University of Surrey, is conducting research on the effects of over tourism in Greece and elsewhere. Although more jobs are created and more revenue is brought into the island from tourism. The local population doesn't necessarily benefit from this. Both the locals and the tourism practitioners don't see a demand for Greek culture, so the local culture is quite watered down for tourists as a result. Furthermore, tourism causes inflation, making goods and services unaffordable for the local people. Real estate prices and Santorini have grown to be among the highest in the European Union. Although Lauren believes that reducing the number of tourists will help reduce some of the problems linked to tourism, she doesn't think this will be the solution to cure all ills. Santa Rini has joined places like Chinchilla, Terra Venice and March U P Jew in putting a cap on visitors. Although capping visitors may have a positive impact in the short term, it's more vitally important that Sandrine E takes a step back and re evaluates its tourism policies and infrastructure on more of a macro level with Maia's also says recent plea to Islanders to adopt teachers and medical staff who are unable to find affordable accommodation on Santorini, an unemployment rate of 23% and the risk that over exploitation will rapidly lead to environmental impoverishment The need for reevaluation certainly seems urgent for this spectacular volcanic island, which has become a victim of its own success. Heidi Full of Love DW Santa Rini Greece DW.