Studies show one in two Greeks will not go on holiday this year as average salary remains low
From a booth facing the ferries moored at Piraeus, Tassos Papadopoulos cuts tickets for passengers heading to the isles of the Saronic Gulf.
It’s 5pm on a hot summer’s day and through the sun-streaked haze he takes in the cars and trucks lining up to cross the steel ramp into the hold of the Aegina-bound vessel. Last year the queues were much longer. “People aren’t travelling it seems,” he says with a shrug. “The weekend traffic is heavier but ticket sales are down by, I’d say, 50%.”
Shimmering within view of the hills beneath the Acropolis, the Argo-Saronic isles are popular precisely because of their proximity to Athens. In 2024 Aegina attracted more than 2 million visitors, many budget-conscious Greeks drawn by the island’s affordable ferry fares.
“This time, last August, all the loungers over there were taken by 10am,” says Konstantinos Tsantas, who runs a watersports business on shores framed by the jugged outline of the Peloponnese beyond. “This year they’re empty. I know watersports people all over the country and they all say the same: that business is down. And to think, Aegina is comparatively cheap.
”2025 will be remembered as the year Greeks decided to forfeit their annual pilgrimage to the beach. Immortalised by singers and songwriters, poets and cinematographers, the carefree joys of summer have, for many, fallen prey to the harsh reality of making ends meet.
“Our studies show that one in two Greeks will not go on holiday this year,” says Takis Kalofonos, chief financial adviser at EEKE, the union of working consumers of Greece.
“Whereas 10 years ago people would take 20 or even 30 days off, this summer it’s less than a week. The Cyclades and islands further out are a distant dream for many Greeks. Who can pay €450 on boat tickets, which is what it would cost a family of four with a car, when the average salary is €1,342 a month?”
The great August retreat – often centred on the religious festival of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary on 15 August – has for many been whittled down to days spent with family or friends in villages on the mainland.
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