Another booming destination is talking openly about creating new restrictions for cruise ships. This time, it's Greece.
Saying both Santorini and Mykonos are stressed by tourism, Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he wants to restrict cruise ship berths or create a bidding process for ships to call at its popular islands, according to a Bloomberg report.
Both Santorini and Mykonos are "clearly suffering," Mitsotakis said, adding the decision to cap cruise visits can come as early as next 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 in the report. "Plus the island can't afford it, even in terms of security."
Greece is the second major destination in a month to voice a desire to restrict cruise traffic. Officials in Juneau announced a plan in early June to cap lower berths beginning in 2026, making it the latest in a spate of destinations to restrict or reshape how cruise ships visit their cities, ranging from Venice and Barcelona to Bar Harbor, Maine.
Josh Weinstein
Carnival Corp. CEO Josh Weinstein responded to Mitsotakis' comments, saying his company will work with any regulations Greek officials decide on, just as the company has with other restrictions over the years.
"I don't expect anything incredibly disruptive," Weinstein told investors during the company's Q2 earnings call. "Unfortunately for us, this is just par for the course."
Carnival Corp.'s presence in Greece represents a low-single-digit percentage of the company's product mix, Weinstein said. Despite the small number, Greece is an important destination, he said, adding that the company will continue to work with the country to figure out how to coincide with their needs.
"We do this all the time in lots of places," Weinstein said, pointing to Dubrovnik as an example of the cruise industry and local officials reaching agreement on how to manage cruise traffic.
Carnival Corp., he added, "will continue to partner with local communities who want our economic benefit."
Chris Theophilides, CEO of Celestyal, a Greek cruise line headquartered in Piraeus, applauded the prime minister's stance to manage cruise tourism and made his own suggestions to address overcrowding.
"Increasing measures such as enhanced berth-request systems and scheduled visit times to popular landmarks, such as the Acropolis, will ensure tourists can enjoy marquee destinations responsibly, with fewer crowds and fewer pressures on the local communities," he said.
What CLIA is doing
CLIA has been busy working with communities and cruise lines worldwide to find solutions as concerns about overtourism have increased in recent years.
For instance, CLIA worked with Juneau to develop an agreement between the local government and cruise lines to cap capacity in order to keep passenger growth relatively flat as the community adjusts to record-breaking numbers of cruise visitors.
For Greece, CLIA introduced a five-year action plan to the Greek government last fall that included extending the cruise season, developing a berth-allocation system and destination-management plans.
CLIA did not comment on the prime minister's suggestion that cruise ships should be restricted or that a bidding process be used to dictate berths. However, the association said it supports developing a berth-management system in Mykonos to better distribute cruise ship arrivals with the capacity of the port and the destination in mind.
CLIA did not comment on what could be done in Santorini other than to note that the island introduced a daily 8,000-passenger limit in 2018. Some 800 ships called in Santorini last year carrying 1.3 million people, a 17% increase over 2022, according to the Hellenic Ports Association.
Travel advisors said they can't blame the prime minister for jumping on the bandwagon with other officials who want to restrict cruising.
Lainey Melnick
"The beauty of the islands are just being compromised by how many tourists there are, all coming at once on these big megaships," said Lainey Melnick of Dream Vacations in Austin, Texas, who favors more regulation.
Robin Leonard, owner of Polaris Travel Advisors in Clayton, Mo., said she is encouraged by the work CLIA is doing with destinations to put in guardrails. She expects calls for regulation will become more common in the next few years as cruise capacity increases an estimated 10% between this year and 2028.
"I completely understand where the local governments are coming from in wanting to get a handle on the crowds," she said. "It's a double-edged sword for many of these countries where their economies are dependent on tourism."
Greece has been "extremely" popular among her clients the past few summers. But the overcrowding there has led her to encourage guests to visit in the shoulder season to avoid the largest crowds and heat of the summer, she added.