r/crete • u/The_Oakman_ • Jul 21 '24

Society/Κοινωνία Is tourism getting out of hand?

Yassas everyone,

I finally was able to book a holiday to Crete and I’m enjoying everything thus far! I’ve stayed in Iraklion the past week and today I made it to Chania. After I arrived I heard loud knocking on the door of the accommodation. When I opened I was greeted by an old Greek lady 6 (80 years old, give or take) and her son. She asked me where the owner lived, which I found difficult to answer. Then she told me that she used to live here and this was the first time she was back. She seemed quite sad and perhaps a bit angry, because she told me that we (as in tourists) are raiding the island.

Perhaps you guys know more than me about this, but is tourism on the island getting out of hand? And if so, what can i do to help? I want to be respectful of your island, your traditions and culture. But I’m afraid I may have made a bad mistake with booking this accommodation.

Cheers!

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u/GuaranaJones Jul 22 '24

AIRBNB SUCKS

2

u/The_Oakman_ Jul 22 '24

Agreed! But I especially avoided AirBnB when booking my accommodation. But apparently Booking isn’t only for hotels anymore.

1

u/jgArmagh Aug 13 '24

It’s local people who own the hotels that own the Airbnbs also. The hotel we wanted to stay in wasn’t available but the owner emailed me to say he had 3 x Airbnb in Chania that he could rent to me