The Airbnb effect on Athens
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The effect that Airbnb has had on Athens over the past years is clearly devastating and is changing our city for good.
I experience this firsthand by living in the centre, near the area of Koukaki (close to the Acropolis), which is one of the most popular neighbourhoods for tourists.
for hipsters, real estate agents, yappies and tourists,
access to public space and housing
is significantly diminished.
There's not even going to be a bench left for us."
The idea of experiencing Athens' "real life" feels outdated when you're constantly running into tourists at the grocery store, where all the signs are now in English to make things easier for... tourists.
Local businesses are closing, like the shop of a person who repairs shoes and clothes, making way for more restaurants and cafes designed to cater to the "multicultural" tastes of tourists. These tourists, at the end of the day, clearly have no interest in experiencing anything truly Greek, since they flock to Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, and other types of restaurants that didn't exist in Athens before the tourism boom.
And Greece seems increasingly willing to give them exactly that!
out of our homes",
and a "bloody" lock.
All around the center, messages are written by the entrances of buildings with Airbnb locks. All in vain, obviously, since most—if not all—are in Greek. Who are they meant for, I wonder? The apartment owners who just want to make money?
As you can see in the photos I’ve taken, owners put the locks anywhere—even on marble from the '60s and '70s.
Since 2015, when there were around 2,000 Airbnb apartments in Athens, that number has soared to a staggering 12,000!
Entire apartment buildings have been bought by companies and rented out like hotels, leaving no space for locals.
It's getting harder and harder for locals to find flats to rent in the centre, and even if they do, the prices are absurd compared to Greece’s minimum wage of 900 euros per month. Rents can now reach 600–700 euros, though they used to be half that.
Airbnb apartments now make up 40% of tourist accommodation in Athens.
This whole situation is, of course, mainly the Greek government's fault. But the other culprit is in the photo above.
Don't ruin our city just to spend
a couple of nights in Athens...
The choice is yours.
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