Visits to the Acropolis of Athens will be regulated from September. This cap will reduce massive queues at peak times, the Greek Ministry of Culture explained on Wednesday. A maximum of 20,000 people will be able to visit the most visited monument in Greece daily.
Each day, visitors will be assigned time slots throughout the 12 hours the site will be accessible, the statement said. The new slot system will be introduced “on a trial basis” on September 4, the ministry adds. For the ministry, it is a question of protecting the Acropolis, 2,500 years old, and “improving the experience of visitors”.
A similar system will subsequently be introduced from April 1 on other Greek archaeological sites, announced Lina Mendoni, Minister of Culture at the microphone of Real FM radio. Last July, during the two weeks that Greece suffered a heat wave, the visiting hours of this monument were repeatedly limited.
According to Greece’s national statistics agency Elstat, more than three million people visited the Acropolis last year, compared to 1.2 million in 2021, during the Covid pandemic. Greece is counting on tourism to revive its economy, after the financial crisis that has hit the country for nearly ten years. The authorities hope to exceed the 31.3 million admissions recorded in 2019, a record year.
