The summer is in full swing as hundreds of tourists embark on a journey to Greece, hoping to absorb the sun and luxuriate in the water.
But seven Greek islands within the Aegean Sea are starting to declare drought conditions to preserve water, and one is counting on bottled water entirely.
Astypalaia, Tinos, Alonissos, Leros, Patmos, Symi and Karpathos are all facing dry conditions this summer, which they fear could impact the variety of tourists the islands see annually.
Astypalaia relies on bottled water for drinking and didn’t receive much of the rain which drenched the remainder of Greece this winter.
Nikos Komineas, mayor of the island, said: ‘If we collected all of the water dropped all year long in a bucket or in a washbowl, it might be 2.5 centimeters deep.’
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Hotel owner Maria Alkalai, 42, said she’s incentivising guests to avoid wasting water by offering vouchers.
Anyone who skips the each day cleansing service receives a 5 euro coupon – ‘Clients have embraced it,’ she said.
Greece’s Environment Minister Stavros Papastavrou has approved 15 million euros ($17 million) for desalination, grid upgrades, and water tanks on nine of Greece’s islands.
Water resilience is becoming a serious issue in Greece, nonetheless, potentially stunting economic growth and locals if not addressed soon.
In 2025, to tackle a few of the water scarcity, hotels said they’d fill their pools with seawater.
Despite tourists’ complaints, Greece is under increasing pressure to reimagine tourism in a sustainable way amid climate change and rising visitor numbers.
Greece has long been a preferred tourist destination however the number of tourists has exploded lately. In 2023, Greece saw record highs with 33 million foreign visitors in total.
But this rise in tourism has sparked protests across several Greek islands, where locals are increasingly concerned in regards to the impact of overtourism.
In the summertime, several protests were held across the Cyclades, a set of Aegean islands that features popular tourist destinations like Santorini and Mykonos.
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