“The complete protection of the Acropolis does not allow the daily limit of visitors to exceed 20,000″, the Minister of Culture pointed out during the presentation, by the contractor, of the study for defining visitation zones at the monument. The presentation took place in a broad meeting, convened by the president of the Organization for the Management and Promotion of Cultural Resources (ODAP), Nicoletta Valakou, with representatives of the institutional bodies and tourism professionals, in the presence of Lina Mendoni and the general secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Giorgos Didaskalos.

The purpose of the meeting, states the relevant announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was the exchange of views between the executives of ODAP and the representatives of tourism, regarding the time of the start of the implementation of the new system, “given that the study has been completed and ODAP has completed the procedures of its immediate application”.

“The ODAP and tourism agencies and professionals should come to a binding agreement on the start time of the pilot application, as no problems should be created at the peak of the tourist season,” said the Minister of Culture, as the main question raised was the exact start time of the system pilot, either 1 August or 1 September. Then, after the experience of the pilot application has been evaluated and exploited, the system of traffic zones will be fully operational from April 1, 2024.

According to the data presented in the study, the ever-increasing traffic to the Acropolis recorded a daily record of around 23,000 visitors. 21,000 visitors per day is mentioned as an ideal number, in order to implement a policy of a protective nature at the monument.

They are created four traffic time zones, from 8.00 to 12.00 with the possibility of visiting a total of 8,000 people. It should be noted that approximately 50% of visitors today choose the morning hours, 8.00-12.00. Eight time zones are created from 12:00 to 20:00 with 13,000 visitors.

In the proposed number of visitors there are quotas in categories, such as group or individual visits, while there are no zones for the disabled, who can visit the monument according to their own planning.

In her statement, the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni he emphasized that “according to the Constitution, the main competence of the Ministry of Culture is the protection of the monument. The Acropolis, like all cultural assets, are non-renewable resources, which we must protect, based on the principles of sustainable development. The point is that we all adapt to the data set by the monument itself.” Regarding the issue of the increased traffic that is observed, even on days with extreme weather conditions, the minister emphasized that “lately, some talk about “queues”, creating impressions. In foreign monuments, the visitor’s waiting time is much longer than the average waiting time at the Acropolis, but it has never been raised by any similar issue.”

Lina Mendoni set as a basic condition “proper and effective cooperation of all sides, adaptation to the data according to the capabilities of the monument itself”, stressing that “if the Acropolis did not exist, there would be no queues, there would be no great tourist movement”. He emphasized “the need to “socialize” the monuments, the decisive contribution of our cultural stock to the competitiveness of the tourist product and to the national economy”, pointing out that “the comprehensive protection of the monument does not return the daily limit of visitors to exceed 20,000”.

A time limit for the completion of the consultation was set the 21st of July.