{"id":367776,"date":"2026-07-17T17:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=367776"},"modified":"2026-07-17T17:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:30:19","slug":"the-seven-greek-islands-which-have-declared-drought-emergencies-this-summer-news-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/07\/17\/the-seven-greek-islands-which-have-declared-drought-emergencies-this-summer-news-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The seven Greek islands which have declared drought emergencies this summer | News World"},"content":{"rendered":"

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One island is using bottled water as an ordinary (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Astypalaia relies on bottled water for drinking and didn\u2019t receive much of the rain which drenched the remainder of Greece this winter.<\/p>\n

Nikos Komineas, mayor of the island, said: \u2018If we collected all of the water dropped all year long in a bucket or in a washbowl, it might be 2.5 centimeters deep.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Some hotels are offering vouchers to guests who don\u2019t use cleansing services (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Hotel owner Maria Alkalai, 42, said she\u2019s incentivising guests to avoid wasting water by offering vouchers.<\/p>\n

Anyone who skips the each day cleansing service receives a 5 euro coupon \u2013 \u2018Clients have embraced it,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

Greece\u2019s Environment Minister Stavros Papastavrou has approved 15 million euros ($17 million) for desalination, grid upgrades, and water tanks on nine of Greece\u2019s islands.<\/p>\n

Water resilience is becoming a serious issue in Greece, nonetheless, potentially stunting economic growth and locals if not addressed soon.<\/p>\n

In 2025, to tackle a few of the water scarcity, hotels said they’d fill their pools with seawater.<\/p>\n

Despite tourists\u2019 complaints, Greece is under increasing pressure to reimagine tourism in a sustainable way amid climate change and rising visitor numbers.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But this rise in tourism has sparked protests across several Greek islands, where locals are increasingly concerned in regards to the impact of overtourism.<\/p>\n

In the summertime, several protests were held across the\u00a0Cyclades, a set of Aegean islands that features popular tourist destinations like Santorini and Mykonos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Solar panel fears after three fires in schools in a 12 months \u2013 but risk is \u2018tiny\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: British tourist found dead on cruise ship off Greek island<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: I\u2019ve been to 14 Greek islands, but there\u2019s just one I keep going back to<\/span><\/p>\n

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One island is using bottled water as an ordinary (Picture: Getty) 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":367777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[21426,15454,16173,17353,3195,395,4319,813],"class_list":["post-367776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-declared","tag-drought","tag-emergencies","tag-greek","tag-islands","tag-news","tag-summer","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t