“Athens cannot operate as if it were a giant hotel,” Doukas told The Guardian. “Restrictions and rules are needed. Cities must also have a say in the way they develop.” He warns of the reality on the ground: With 700,000 residents facing nearly 8 million tourists, tourism development becomes unrestrained and simply pushes local residents out of their neighborhoods.
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Tourists outside the parliament building in Athens
(Photo: Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock.com)
According to reports in Greek media, Doukas is stepping up his campaign and plans to use a bill on tourism-related land use to call for a sweeping ban on new business activity in the city’s historic center and to set a cap on hotel beds.
“We’ll be stopping all tourist investment in Plaka, which I am on a mission to save. There’s no more room. Not for short-term rental, not for serviced apartments, not for hotels, or any other tourism use. The area is oversaturated. We want to say ‘enough is enough’ in a bill that is enshrined in law.”
Such a move would continue restrictions the Greek government has already begun imposing on short-term rentals in neighborhoods overlooking the Acropolis, where the number of overnight stays has doubled since 2018 and rental prices for locals have soared. Surprisingly, even the head of Greece’s hoteliers’ association, Alexandros Vassilikos, has joined calls to impose quotas on the construction of new hotels.
Athens city officials and tourism bureaus are repeating the same mantra: “Athens cannot become Barcelona.” The comparison is no coincidence. After hosting the 1992 Olympic Games, the Catalan city experienced an unprecedented tourism boom that, over the years, spun out of control. What began as a powerful engine of economic growth became a national scourge that distorted the real estate market, pushed local residents out of the city center and replaced traditional businesses with tourist traps.
Athens, which hosted the Olympics in 2004, is now watching Barcelona residents struggle with the exact same problems. Doukas has drawn considerable encouragement from Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni, who recently announced a drastic move of his own: a complete ban on short-term rentals starting in November 2028 and the revocation of licenses for more than 10,000 tourist apartments.
Doukas, a professor of energy and climate policy, brings an environmental agenda that goes beyond restrictions on the vacation rental model. So far, he has led the planting of nearly 4,000 trees in the historic center and has not shied away from more extreme steps, such as demolishing existing buildings to create public spaces, parks and playgrounds — in sharp contrast to the global trend of building towers and skyscrapers.
At the same time, all of Athens is currently being dug up. These are not cosmetic works, but fundamental upgrades to the city’s electricity, water and drainage systems, which simply are not suited to the large number of visitors.
The mayor’s campaign also extends to the bars and restaurants popping up on city rooftops and offering views of the Acropolis. Some operate without licenses and create noise nuisances, and are now in his sights. At the same time, he aims to block construction companies and real estate developers seeking to build high-rises along the first line facing the Acropolis, in order to protect the city’s historic skyline.
As a “secret weapon” to address the housing crisis that has emerged, the municipality is not only imposing bans and restrictions. It has also initiated the creation of a special social housing office. Its goal is to identify buildings and apartments that can be renovated with European Union funds and to incentivize young couples to remain in the city center in order to preserve the local community.
“Athens is for its people,” the mayor said. “It is not only for those who simply want to exploit it.”
Greece was the most popular international destination from Ben Gurion Airport in 2025, with 2.2 million passengers traveling on Israel-Greece routes. Athens serves both as an urban destination in its own right and as a main gateway to the islands, and the battle against overtourism there could also affect Israeli travelers. Any significant change in the supply of lodging and entertainment in Athens could quickly be felt in travelers’ wallets, especially in peak seasons when demand from Israel jumps.
If the restrictions advanced by Athens City Hall on new hotels, short-term rental apartments and tourism businesses in saturated areas are indeed expanded, neighborhoods such as Plaka, Psiri and Kolonaki — all at the heart of the city’s tourist circuit — could become more crowded, more restricted and more expensive. In the short term, reducing the supply of lodging and entertainment in the city center could lead to higher prices, push tourists to more distant neighborhoods and turn a short vacation in Athens — once seen as a nearby, convenient and relatively cheap destination — into a more expensive and complicated trip.
If Athens is indeed on its way to becoming a more restricted, expensive and crowded city, this may be the time to recalculate and discover a different Greece, one that has not yet collapsed under the weight of millions of tourists. The refreshing alternative — and one that is not obvious to Israelis who usually flock to the familiar islands — is the Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece. Instead of crowding into the heat of Plaka’s alleys, travelers can land in Thessaloniki, the perfect and closest gateway to the region, and from there continue with a short drive to Halkidiki’s three “fingers.” There, they will find some of Europe’s most beautiful beaches, with clear turquoise water, authentic fishing villages, green nature and indulgent resorts that still offer reasonable prices.
Another option, especially for those still looking for a combination of mythological history and breathtaking landscapes, is the Peloponnese peninsula. It offers spectacular mountains, major archaeological sites and picturesque villages along the coast, all without the exhausting lines at the Acropolis. In the end, Greece is much more than one “giant hotel,” and the coming summer may be the perfect opportunity to discover its quieter sides.
