Tourists walking in front of the more than 2,000 year-old Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Athens. The world heritage site welcomed 4.5 million visitors last year. — AFP
SURROUNDED by a hubbub of blaring music, restaurant terraces and rumbling suitcase wheels slaloming between overflowing litter bins, Giorgos Zafeiriou believes surging tourism has made his historic Athens neighbourhood unrecognisable.
The Greek capital’s Plaka district “is threatened by overtourism”, said Zafeiriou, who has lived there for more than three decades and leads its residents’ association.
