Armed with selfie sticks and phones, the tourists flood into Santorini from everywhere - on dinghies from giant ocean liners, on coaches that zigzag up the steep hillsides, atop donkeys that clip-clop along the narrow cobbled streets. Some brave the afternoon heat to find a good spot among the white-washed houses and blue-domed churches where they then wait hours to watch the Greek island's famed sunset. As the sun dips, many more join them, squeezing along the cliffside or onto balconies, cameras at the ready. Tourists view Santorini’s famed sunset, on Santorini, Greece, July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis "This has been my dream since high school," said American tourist Maria Tavarez, 40. But for many of Santorini's 20,000 permanent residents, the once idyllic island...
Read MoreTag: overtourism
Barcelona will raise the tourist tax for cruise passengers visiting the city for less than 12 hours, the mayor said in an interview published on Sunday. Jaume Collboni said the current tourist tax for stopover cruise passengers was 7 euros ($7.61) per day. He did not say by how much the tax would be increased. FILE PHOTO: A man ties protest banners in the balcony of a building that was recently converted for tourist use at Sants neighborhood in Barcelona, Spain, May 19, 2023. The banner reads "No more tourist flats". REUTERS/Albert Gea "We are going to propose..substantially increasing the tax for stopover cruise passengers," he told El Pais newspaper. "In the case of stopover cruise passengers (less than 12 hours) there is intensive use of public space without any benefit for...
Read MoreTourists visiting the southern Spanish city of Seville may soon have to pay a fee to explore the wide, ornate Plaza de Espana square, the city hall said, as part of plans to control tourist overload in a public open space. "We are planning to close the Plaza de Espana and charge tourists to finance its conservation and ensure its safety," Mayor Jose Luis Sanz wrote in a post on social media platform X, accompanied with a video showing missing tiles, damaged facades and street vendors occupying alcoves and stairs. Complete with a semicircular Neo-Moorish palatial structure framed with tall towers on both ends and four bridges over a moat, the Plaza is part of a complex built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition that was designed to reflect Spanishness in its architecture and tiled ...
Read MoreVenice plans to experiment with an admission fee of 5 euros ($5.35) for day trippers next year to try to manage the flow of tourists drawn to its historic canals, the city council said on Tuesday. The fee will be applied on a trial basis on 30 days next year, focusing mainly on spring bank holidays and summer weekends when tourism numbers are at their peak. All visitors over the age of 14 will have to pay it. The aim was to find "a new balance between the rights of those who live, study or work in Venice and those who visit the city," Venice tourism councillor Simone Venturini said. It is not a money-making move, he added, saying the fee would only cover the cost of administering the scheme. FILE PHOTO: Tourists walk during a new heatwave as temperatures are expected to reach ...
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