The Undesired Impacts of Overtourism in the Island of Crete, Greece

The concept of overtourism has been appeared recently indicating that several popular tourism destinations host too many tourists having harmful impacts on them. The island of Crete, Greece consists of a popular global tourist destination hosting more than five mil. Of tourist every year while their number increases constantly. The undesired environmental, economic and social impacts of overtourism in Crete have been studied. The number of tourists, the number of overnight staying, the average days of staying, the tourism density and the tourism intensity have been evaluated. It has been found that the number of visitors in 2023 were 6,327,366 while they stayed in the island on average 5.43 days. The tourism density has been estimated at 4,120 bed-nights/km2 while the tourism intensity at 55.63 bed-nights/resident. These values are higher than the EU and global average while the seasonality of tourism in the island intensifies the problem. It should be mentioned that the tourism infrastructure in Crete is gathered on the north coastline increasing the overcrowding in the main cities which are also located in the same area. The results indicate that the tourism industry in Crete is at high risk of overtourism and appropriate measures and policies are required for mitigating and preventing its undesired impacts. The study might be useful to local stakeholders of the tourism industry as well as to municipal and regional authorities who can intervene to protect the prosperous tourism industry in the island.