The well-known attribute of Athens will be subject to restrictions on the number of visitors. According to Greek media, the Greek government has confirmed that visits to the Acropolis of Athens will be limited to 20,000 people per day, and there will also be hourly entry restrictions. The plans provide for the launch of a “trial version” of quotas as early as September, and permanently, the system of restrictions should begin to operate in April 2024, that is, at the beginning of the next tourist season.
According to the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, these measures are necessary to prevent congestion of visitors and long queues at “bottlenecks” inside the UNESCO World Heritage Site. She noted that up to 23 thousand tourists simply squeeze into the complex of monuments every day, especially many large groups before noon. The Minister stressed that tourism is important for the country, but it is necessary to balance its impact on the preservation of monuments.
According to the plan, restrictions on visiting the Acropolis will begin on September 4 as an experiment and will become a permanent practice until April 1, 2024. In the period from 8:00 to 20:00, limited groups of tourists with different numbers will be allowed every hour. The number of visitors is expected to be concentrated from 8 am to noon. As a result, 3,000 people will be admitted from 8:00 am to 9:00 am, 2,000 people will be admitted the next hour, and the number of tourists allowed will change at other hours. There are no restrictions on the length of stay, but on average, organized tour groups and cruise ships spend about 45 minutes on the Acropolis.
Lina Mendoni stressed that these measures are aimed at protecting the monument and improving the tourist experience. It is worth noting that last month access to the Acropolis was closed due to extremely high temperatures. Athens authorities have announced the closure of the Acropolis hill, including the Parthenon temple, from noon to 17:00 due to heat reaching 41 degrees Celsius. In this regard, the authorities have installed awnings to protect tourists from the sun.
It should also be noted that crowds of tourists gathered in “bottlenecks” have become the object of sophisticated fraud. The Greek Organization for the Development of Cultural Resources has warned tourists about misinformation related to the Skip the Line ad. The organization emphasized that no such service exists on the Acropolis, and warned that even if tourists can avoid the queue at the entrance, they will still encounter it at the entrance to the Propylaea, which has a narrow entrance.