A vacation is unaffordable: for many Greeks, a trip to the islands has become an expensive pleasure

Summer holidays for many people in Greece become a luxury item: almost half of the Greek population does not plan any trips this year, and even a short family holiday costs thousands of euros.

Summer holidays in Greece are increasingly turning not into an ordinary seasonal respite, but into a privilege for those who can still afford it. According to research from the Consumer Products Retail Research Institute (ΙΕΛΚΑ), about half of citizens are not planning vacation trips at all this year due to the high cost.

Of the remaining half of those who are still planning to go on vacation, 34% will limit themselves to short trips, 14% will spend their vacation at approximately the same level as previous years, and only 2% intend to increase its duration.

The picture looks indicative: more and more people do not give up vacation of their own free will, but are forced to adapt to a reality in which even a few days away from home become a serious financial burden.

Most citizens choose the most economical options. About 53% are focused on dachas, country houses – their own or provided by relatives and friends. A significant portion are also considering renting rooms and cheaper accommodation. Hotels, on the contrary, are chosen by an ever smaller share of vacationers.

The deciding factor remains the price. One of the survey participants says directly: “A holiday in Greece is a utopia, it’s an expensive sport.” Others admit that due to holiday schedules and high prices, they will not be able to travel during the high season.

The problem is especially clear in the example of a family of four who wants to spend only five to six days on the island. Costs for ferries and accommodation alone can range from 1,650 to almost 2,800 euros – excluding food, fuel, entertainment and other mandatory expenses.

According to the above estimates, a holiday in Chania will cost about 2,100 euros, on Syros – about 2,000 euros, on Tinos – over 2,300 euros, on Rhodes – almost 2,800 euros, and on Chios – about 1,650 euros.

That is, even a short trip for an ordinary family is increasingly turning into a financial test. And this is, perhaps, the main result of this season: for a noticeable part of the population, vacation has already ceased to be a natural part of the summer and is increasingly becoming an expensive commodity that has to be either cut back or canceled completely.

The rising cost of transport and accommodation is pushing more and more households to give up travel, and the trend itself clearly shows how much the disposable income of citizens has shrunk. When people have to choose not between islands, but between a vacation and saving their family budget, talk about the country’s “tourist success” sounds less and less convincing.

A road instead of a ferry, but without rest

The summer flow is increasingly shifting to car routes. A good example is the Athens-Corinth national road, maintained by Olympia Odos. According to the observations of drivers who regularly use this direction, Since June, serious traffic jams began to recur on the road: on Friday and Saturday – when leaving Athens, and especially on Sunday – when people return en masse.

On Saturday, traffic usually slows down, but the flow is distributed over time: some vacationers leave on Friday afternoon, others leave in the morning or afternoon on Saturday. Therefore, traffic jams remain relatively tolerable. A completely different picture emerges on Sunday, when thousands of cars return to Attica almost simultaneously.

So, on Sunday, a traffic jam formed in the section after the payment points in Corinth towards Athens, which practically stretched to the payment points in Elefsina. The cars covered about 60 kilometers of road in about six hours. For regular users of the route, such a picture, according to them, was unthinkable until recently, but has now become almost regular over the past month and a half.

It cannot be argued that the reason for these traffic jams was only the rise in prices of ferries: traffic is affected by seasonal traffic, accidents, route organization and many other factors. But the coincidence is obvious: when a trip to an island for a family costs thousands of euros, more and more people choose a car, mainland resorts, cottages or relatives’ houses. As a result, savings on the ferry turn into lost hours on the highway.

It turns out to be a rather gloomy formula for this summer: the islands are too expensive, the ferries are too expensive, the hotels are too expensive, and the road on a weekend turns into a long stop in the sun. For many, vacation begins not by the sea, but between Corinth and Elefsina, in a queue of cars and exhaust fumes. A wonderful tourist strategy, as always, designed for people who for some reason cannot teleport.

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