Santorini Tourism Drops Following Earthquakes, but Demand Stays Strong
Arrivals in Greece are down this summer, with experts pointing to February’s earthquake swarm as the cause.
Viking Sea and Viking Star outside Santorini, Greece. Photo: Viking
It’s not just overtourism impacting Santorini in 2025—in fact, some reports suggest the popular destination is having the opposite problem this summer.
Santorini made headlines earlier this year when an earthquake swarm rocked the Greek island. For weeks, the area was subjected to hundreds of tremors, with magnitudes reaching as high as 5.3.
As Greece heads into the peak summer travel season, it appears the earthquakes have had a lasting effect on consumer confidence. Residents and cruise ships returned to Santorini after the earthquakes settled down, but data suggests the region’s tourism is declining.
“In Santorini, available airline seats are down 26% from the beginning of the year to date. But the indications we have in terms of supply of seats are down in the range of 7% to 8% for the summer, so we expect a result with losses of 10% to 15%,” said president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), Yannis Paraschis (via EuroNews).
Christina Dimopoulou, the manager of Fyralia Hotel, told Greek Reporter that she’s seeing fewer tourists in Santorini.
“We are definitely in a decline compared to last season,” said Dimopoulou.
For those concerned with crowds and overtourism, the decline is a welcome change.
A stalwart of Mediterranean cruising, Greece has been at the center of overtourism conversations for years. With its tiny islands sometimes seeing as many as seven cruise ships in port at once, the infrastructure gets overwhelmed during peak season.
To address this issue, Greece introduced a new cruise passenger tax for Santorini and Mykonos, which goes into effect July 1, 2025. The country’s prime minister has also said he’s considered solutions such as a cruise ship cap for Greece’s most popular islands.
““My opinion is that we should generally take the way our work is progressing this year compared to other years seriously, perhaps putting a limit on how many people this island can welcome based on the infrastructure that exists and the space that exists and all that we can offer that is better,” Dimopoulou told Greek Reporter.
Santorini Is Still In High Demand
The president of the Santorini hoteliers, Antonis Pagoni, told Euronews that he expected further travel decline over the summer, predicted that overall arrivals could be down as much as 30%.
The suppliers that Travel Market Report spoke to, however, paint a different picture.
G Adventures, which is launching new yachts in the Greek islands this summer, told TMR that bookings have rebounded. Although Santorini bookings were down earlier this year, the numbers have come back up.
Additionally, G Adventures is seeing more interest in its mainland Greece tours.
“Historically, we’ve seen travelers only focus on a few places like Santorini, but mainland Greece is a truly exceptional area to visit, with more history and fewer crowds,” said Kimberly Greiner, G Adventures’ public relations manager.
John Diorio, vice president & managing director, North America at Celestyal, told TMR that the boutique cruise line hasn’t seen this drop in interest.
“We’ve seen no impact on our cruise bookings related to the past seismic activity,” said Diorio. “Santorini remains one of the most sought-after destinations in the Aegean, and we’re continuing to see strong demand across our full range of Greek itineraries—including our seven-night Heavenly Greece, Italy & Croatia and Iconic Greece cruises, as well as our shorter three- and four-night Idyllic Greece sailings.”
