Local Greeks pushed out as mass tourism takes over Athens • FRANCE 24 English 

The problem is not tourist. The problem is those corporations who buy anything and everything. They need to go after those corporations.

In Lisbon, Portugal they have ceased new airbnb permits. I am glad.

Happened to Amsterdam years ago. Everywhere nice gets ruined by mass tourism and foreign investors.

Why is it that every touristically attractive city turns into a dead zone for local communities? It doesn't have to be this way...

Airbnb destroys neighborhoods.

Why is Athens even so popular? 99% of the buildings are modern apartment blocks. It has only Akropolis and that's it. The rest of the city is literally just an ugly concrete jungle.

“Some Greeks are starting to feel like foreigners in their own country” sounds like London for the last 15 years.

I live on the Big Island of Hawaii and this is an issue for us here too. So many short term rentals are not only taking housing away from locals but are driving prices up to the point that locals can't afford to live here anymore. Some of the blame must fall on greedy local owners as well who care more about making quick profits than how their actions affect others in the community.

sadly to admit, my homeland Cyprus is faced with the same issue...even my childhood village of Paralimni where i spent careless days...is starting to fade...i'm writing this comment as my pledge to save what i can < 3

The same here in Portugal. Houses for digital nomadas and for rich expats but none for the portuguese peolpe. Shame on neoliberalism.

Don’t blame the tourists. Blame the greedy investors. They are the ones ruining everything. I feel bad for all these people.

Unfortunately this happened also in Rome, actually during Fascism: many poor local families who used to live in the centre were ousted from areas such as Piazza del Popolo, via del Corso and so on, they were assigned suburban houses especially in Garbatella and Tor Marancia. Enormous is the loss due to gentrification. because no longer the humans who had built their place are there to live it.

There is a very simple way to stop this 1) property may only be purchased by citizens 2) rentals below 30 days are banned i.e air bnb It's really that simple, the first one is the easiest to implement

Money wins nothing new.

As a Greek i understand that tourism is a valuable industry for the country, but it should NEVER come at the cost of the locals. Its the locals after all that live and make the city what it is and they are also the ones supposed to be served by their city. And tbh i would prefer a hotel than an airbnb anyways.

Same thing happened in Winter Haven, Florida. When Legoland was built here the rent for a two bedroom two bathroom apartment was around $700. Now it's $3100. Homes around have turned into Airbnbs.

the same has happened in Amsterdam, or Barcelona - where finding apartment in fair price it's impossible; and people have to move out of the city, and airBnB is taking more and more space. I live in Greece, and what I have seen in Athens, it is plenty or AirBnb, and rents are going high and high - people rather rent it 4 months in year at Airbnb than rent it normally. Cause 4 months will bring them more money than full year renting contract from regular rent. Islands are the same - every apartment you rent there is private - and more airbnbs are coming up - it used to be like many people, young people were travelling to the island for summer work, now - there is no place to accomodate them, and with more tourists coming, even when there is plenty of jobs, there is no people to hire cause there is no place to accomodate them - and this is how the circles are folllowe. Prices are made to the foreign salary, when our salaries are rising VERY slow...

Same thing in spain It is not the tourist fault.

Same in the center of Paris, it has turned into a Disneyland for tourists !!!

Housing is no longer to live in, it is an investment asset. As most of us do need to live somewhere it gets abit weird to see many emprty places bought just for speculation or nor soild/rented out ata lower price to keep the asset value up (avrage EUR per month in rent etc)....

I live in an island in Greece and August is unbearable. I have no problem with tourists, but 10 times the population in 10 days in summer is toixc. Not liveable.

I don't think is about tourism, but greedy landlords who rather keep neighborhoods for Airbnbs than for local families.

My dad was born and raised in Metaxourgio in the 1920s. Most recently before the “AirBnB era”, it was an extension of the Red Light District, miserable and dilapidated beyond description. No nostalgia.

Tourism have almost wiped out Venice too. It's a plague.

If I can afford €800 a month and the landlord chooses the person who can afford €1400 a month, then the problem is capitalism and not tourism. The ticking time bomb of combining socialist salaries and salary net income with capitalist, free market real estate started before Airbnb was even thought of.

Greece recently announced revisions to its Golden Visa Program, raising the minimum property investment to €800,000 and a threshold of nothing smaller than 120m2 (1,291 sf) effective August 30, 2024 if investing in central Athens, it's southern, and northern suburbs, Thessaloniki, Mykonos and/or Santorini; and will potentially include Crete, the Cyclades, and the Dodecanese islands in future. Also introduced in the new legislation are restrictions on short-term rentals for properties obtained through the Golden Visa Program (can't AirBNB them!) This "might" help, but does not apply to EU citizens, or if an investor simply wants to invest and is not seeking residency. Sadly this is going on all over the world as investors see profits from rental housing to those who have been squeezed out of the property market with rising interest rates.

This quandary occurs everywhere around the world as locations rise and fall in favor. For example, West Palm Beach used to be the inexpensive area where the servants of Palm Beach millionaires used to live.

Tourist destroy things.

to be fair. athens was falling apart and people were running off to other european countries. foreigners came as tourists and investors and greek became attractive again. it s not foreigners or tourists that are the problem. it s policies that don t benefit the local population.

A problem every where that makes is profitable to own a home Homes should be for living in not investing opportunities. They should be able to fix the crisis with taxation .

same thing in Croatia but again most of Croatia lives of tourism

Same happened to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia, etc.

Greece relies too much on tourism for its own good. A certain amount of tourism is a good thing, extreme over-tourism like in Greece's case is devastating, and it's distracting from developing other parts of the economy.

Same in certain parts of the US. Super rich people from Asia and Europe come and buy everything up because it’s expensive over there and rent for so much more pushing local Americans out the market.

This is why when I travel I prefer to stay in a hotel. I have never stayed in an Air BnB. I also live in a high touristy area in the US and it's the same story. My city is losing its soul and culture.

The problem in Athens is not Airbnb. The problem is the extremely low wages (a little bit more than 1k net monthly average) that are being paid out by big companies. All major companies in Greece report double net profits each and every year, yet they pay their employees peanuts. Those employees (and mainly Greek women) have zero negotiation skills and would rather live with mom and dad than dare to ask for better salaries and working conditions. Sad but true!

I saw something similar in lower Manhattan. Gentrification drove the lower incomes out.

Buy/build your own house. No one can kick you out. They can do anything if you only rent.

That lady is rolling some mean keftedes.respect.

Let's not pretend that these neighborhoods were some vivid, beautiful, happy communities before. Local communities had long vanished before Airbnb even begin as a concept. Economic immigration, prostitution and drug trafficking prevailed in these neighborhoods. Obviously Airbnb is not the answer, but the problem is not the tourists or the golden visa applicants.

Same same here in Barcelona

I sympathise. This tourist will continue to visit Greece, staying in its lovely hotels.

This is happening in Portugal as well, mad reality we're living in.

Get the Spartans to fight the Tourist

The Great -Property - Reset

This is not a tourism problem but a short term rentals problem, it’s also easy to fix: crack down on short term renting in tourist hotspots with sky high taxes and incentivize hotels. A few hotels can accommodate as many tourists as hundreds of AirBnbs.

Im moving to Greece now in July to work but i fell bad for the Greeks who has to go trough this and forced to move out because of mass tourism glad we don’t have this problem here in Brazil.

Same thing happened in Hawaii so many investment properties and short term rentals. short term rentals like air bnb need caps.

Also happened in Barcelona, now it's way more regulated. It seems that investors are doing rotations and moving from country to country. It's a plague

It sounds like Sparks/Reno in Nevada in The U.S.. 😢

When outsiders don't want to see the locals and their way of living but admire the historical monuments and just roam around, it means they are out to grab your land and country. Be cautious.

They are literally suffering from success

Portugal is the same history. Houses are no longer homes they are some kind of commodity to trade and speculate with. You visit Lisbon to watch other tourists and some pakistani cheap gift shops and default green cafes. And the locals have to shallow a 900 minimum rent for 2 rooms.

I been to Athens Greece 🇬🇷 twice and liked it.

I live in NYC. NYC is full of out of towners, and native New Yorkers have been pushed out financially. The city is bland now and completely lost its character. 😢

i live in the UK and my modest housing takes about 75% of my income. That's not because of air b&b that's just what it costs. Maybe I should move to Athens and reduce my housing costs!

I'm doing my part by staying away from Greece.

It been happening on Vancouver too, but not by tourism but dur excesive study permit and "rich visas" for foreigners investors to develop real state business for other rich foreigners that pushed the prices unreachable for local families.

In dubai local communities and tourist destinations are separated no such issues

It's happening here in Australia. A lot of people with high payed jobs can't afford to rent. There is a shortage of accommodation and of course the landlords can ask for any price and they will get it. One can expect to pay $600 per week for an average home. Lot's of people sleeping in their cars or in tents.

Gentrification has already destroyed many big cities in the U.S. The average rent for a one bedroom apartment in New York City is over 3500 dollars.

In nyc the law was changed which put extreme limits on short term leasing..as of now housing costs are still sky high..would no regulation made it worse? Perhaps, but the problem of the cost of living especially shelter..goes way deeper than just one thing..my opinion.

It’s happening in Warsaw, too.

Same thing happening in Mallorca , Spain

It’s an ugly cement city and an oven in summer.

The building they renovated us very nice!

Greece was collapsing financially…

Unregulated short term rentals can lead to unwelcome changes. NYC almost completely banned them, which may be overkill, but some control is needed.

They all coming to Australia we have the largest population of Greeks outside Greece Yassou re

I pointed out something to whoever reads this comment For as far back as I can remember and I think that’s the 1960s Greece, especially as well as Italy, has promoted their country as of tourist destination In many ways, it’s what they had to offer to trade in the way of services because it does not have a lot of natural resources, and it does not have a lot of manufacturing In a little bit of Greek history attempted to take over parts of Anatolia after they were semi defeated by the Turkish government. There was a conference, and all the Christian Greeks were relocated to Greece, the nation, and a lot of the Muslim Turkish people relocated to Turkey. I think they were about 1 million people that were in the 1920s and permanently stressed out Greece they could not absorb them effectively Quite a few Greeks have chosen to go overseas to live and work and send money home Especially in the 1960s with the easy jet travel and a lot of other southern Mediterranean countries heavily and I mean heavily solicited North America specifically Americans to come over and visit and Britain’s and Germans and other people within the European Union that didn’t quite exist then Well, they’ve been successful beyond their wildest dreams And after about 50 to 60 years people are coming and loving their country to death They could’ve thought about ways, mitigating the impact of tourist coming there, but that would’ve been a tall order for the simple reason you would have to admonish people from going, and doing certain things early on, and you might lose prestige as being a friendly place to go If you want to see the same in the look at Iceland, they’re beginning to feel stressed out from tourists

Sad to see over tourism in many places all over this worn out earth. Time places were CLOSED to visitors to let them rest and recuperate.

This is happening in Cape Town too was just there…nuts

Start implementing price controls on all real estate and nationalize private industry

This what is happening in Mexico City😊

Interesting comments from all nationalities talking about being in the same situation. We are transforming our homes into Theme Parks.

Airbnb has negative impacts for all places popular with tourists ,it seems ,except for those who profit from them and tourism in general.

unfortunately, everywhere, short term rentals give you CONTROL over your hard earned, long term asset. Regular rents do not, almost everywhere.

Whoa!

Same as Mexico.

What a complete joke of a deputy finance minister….market for whom? Sacrificing the locals for not disrupting the market, what a genius idea…..

Locals should be incentives to make more bed and breakfast like spaces. Corpos or foreign investors should only get the problematic old/ruined buildings.

Politicians allow that. They are guilty.

Its honestly ruining every country. Be it air bnb or rich foreign investment buying up the properties. Homes should be homes. Not retirement investments!

We can limit the "air BNB" temporary hotels allowed in Greece. #Greece #Unitedairlines #Airbnb #Wellfargo #Iran #realestate

this happens everywhere. a bohemian centre arises all the wannabes become aware and want in. they get in and their mere presence destroys the vibe and now its about them not the community. everywhere.

What changed in such a short time for these places, why has this been something of the last 5 years ? Someone here said Mexico City and honestly I went there in 2019 and didn’t see many tourists at all.

I think people need to be careful what they wish. AIRBNB, and these so called travel nomads, short rentals, has ruined the quality of life in towns, and cities. I blame people for not researching the agenda behind these services, which is why when I travel I stay in a hotel (not an AIRBNB) I take a taxi cab, not a UBER. There is a reason why people want these services out of their city.

......Policy failure .....Greek gov't should be ashamed for not providing safety nets to the vulnerable natives....

This is most assuredly *not* happening in America's Rust Belt. Everyone is welcome to come. Hop on a barge in Pittsburgh all the way to Cairo, Illinois and come and see all the abandoned factories. No castles I'm afraid. Rolling, rolling rolling on a river.

Even in Capitalism we have to separate the commercial, public space from the private space. Airbnb should be outlawed. If tourists need lodging build bloody hotels, lot's of them. The same phenomenon is happening in Lisboa. The value of the local real estate increases astronomically, which is only good for the owners of said real estate, the local residents are forced out. The people who gave character and life to the city are told they are no longer required. Starbucks, Macdonalds, Burger King, dozens of faux Portuguese cuisine restaurants, manned by foreigners, spring up to cater to gullible tourists. The global villlage has arrived. Why even have tourists, if everywhere is the same, they might as well stay home, and save a trip.

Answer. Stop being greedy and rent cheaper to locals. It's just greed.

I'm screaming this for years: AirBNB should be taxed to hell!

As someone with an Athenian partner, this video is so inaccurate it’s untrue. Athens has a housing crisis because of the collapsed economy and pathetic wages. These buildings would have been empty that no one wanted, hence why developers came and turned them into accommodation, no one else wanted them. Obviously the economic situation in all of Greece is absolutely dire, but blame the government for ruining the country. My partner’s family (who are indigenous Greek) owns another flat and can’t let it out, no Greeks want it! Greeks are hardly being pushed out, when there’s no demand because no one has any money

Who moving to Greece ?

There should be companies offering jobs away from Athens and good tax incentives for the population to relocate to less populated regions. How difficult is it ??

Tourism is good for paying off the state debt though ;) But yes sad for the locals although it does give them jobs, which is important because their economy depends for a large percentage on tourism.

OK, I won't go to Athens anytime soon...

The real issue: just like Uber is not a ridesharing co, but a taxi co, so too Airbnb is not a home sharing co like they pretend, but a huge hotel co, without the regulations. But they make money for local authorities, so f the people...

Sad😥

If the neighborhoods would just put a limit on how many rentals can exist problem solved. Plus stop letting foreigners buy property