Santorini Tourism Statistics (2026): Visitors, Cruises, and Overtourism by the Numbers

These Santorini tourism statistics are some of the most quoted numbers in Greek tourism, and also some of the most muddled. Cruise figures get mixed up with airport figures, peak-day surges get reported as annual totals, and "2 million visitors" gets attached to whatever the writer is arguing. This page pulls together the figures we can actually source, organized by topic, with the year and the source attached to every number. We run a small hotel in Fira, so we track this data closely. Where a Santorini-only figure does not exist, we say so and use the closest published proxy instead of inventing one.

Every figure below carries an inline citation. Years are stated explicitly because Santorini's story changed sharply between 2024 (a record) and 2025 (a sharp drop), and the 2026 cruise schedule is different again.

Key Takeaways

The headline Santorini tourism statistics, including the numbers behind the island's overtourism debate:

• Santorini Airport (JTR) handled a record 2,877,122 passengers in 2024, up 3.7% over 2023, then fell to 2,418,219 in 2025, down 16% (Source: Santorini Airport / Fraport Greece, 2024 and 2025).
• Santorini's port received about 1.35 million cruise passengers across 750 ship calls in 2024, making it Greece's second-busiest cruise port after Piraeus (Source: Hellenic Ports Association via GTP Headlines, 2024).
• On peak days in 2024, as many as 16,000 to 17,000 cruise passengers came ashore in a single day; on 23 July 2024 the figure was 11,000 (Source: The Maritime Executive; Kathimerini, 2024).
• From 2025, Santorini enforces a daily cap of 8,000 cruise passengers, down from peaks near 17,000 (Source: Scottish Government review, citing the Municipal Port Fund of Thira; Kathimerini, 2025).
• Greece's cruise levy charges up to €20 per passenger at Santorini and Mykonos in peak season (1 June to 30 September), effective 1 July 2025 under Law 5162/2024 (Source: GTP Headlines, 2025).
• Scheduled 2026 cruise arrivals fall to 595 ships, down 18.27% from 728 in 2025 (Source: TNT Magazine, 2026).
• Santorini's permanent population was 15,550 at the 2021 census, against roughly 2 million tourists a year (Source: ELSTAT 2021 Census; The National Herald, 2021 and 2024).

Visitors and Arrivals

The cleanest annual measure of how many people visit Santorini by air is Santorini International Airport (JTR) passenger traffic.

Santorini Airport handled 2,877,122 total passengers in 2024, a record for the airport (Source: Santorini International Airport, via Wikipedia, 2024). That was a 3.7% increase over 2023 (Source: Santorini International Airport, via Wikipedia, 2024). The official Fraport Greece breakdown splits the 2024 total into 1,333,326 domestic and 1,543,796 international passengers, which reconciles exactly to the 2,877,122 total (Source: Santorini Airport / Fraport Greece, 2024). The airport recorded 23,676 aircraft movements in 2024, up 1.9% year over year (Source: Santorini International Airport, via Wikipedia, 2024). If you are weighing when to book, our guide to the best time to visit Santorini reads these seasonal swings from a traveller's point of view.

For context, the airport handled 2,775,805 passengers in 2023 (Source: Santorini International Airport, via Wikipedia, 2023) and 2,300,408 in 2019, the pre-pandemic baseline, so the 2024 record sat about 25% above the 2019 level (Source: Santorini International Airport, via Wikipedia, 2019).

Then 2025 reversed the trend. Santorini Airport passenger traffic fell to 2,418,219 in 2025, down 16% from 2024 (Source: Santorini Airport / Fraport Greece, 2025). The drop coincided with the new cruise cap, an earthquake swarm in early 2025, and the new cruise levy.

Year	JTR total passengers	Notes
2019	2,300,408	Pre-pandemic baseline (Wikipedia)
2023	2,775,805	Year before the record (Wikipedia)
2024	2,877,122	Record, +3.7% YoY (Wikipedia)
2025	2,418,219	-16% vs 2024 (Fraport Greece / JTR)

If you are arriving by plane, our Santorini Airport guide covers transfers and getting into town.

Two things this airport data does not tell you. First, it counts passengers, not unique visitors, and it includes residents and connecting traffic. Second, there is no published Santorini-only figure for overnight hotel stays. The closest official proxy is the South Aegean region, which includes Santorini. In 2024 the South Aegean recorded the largest absolute increase in tourist arrivals in Greece, with arrivals up 5.6% and overnight stays up 8.2% versus 2023 (Source: ELSTAT, via To Vima, 2024). Nationally, Greece's total overnight stays in hotel-type accommodation and campsites rose 3.9% in 2024, with foreign visitors up 4.1% and accounting for 83.8% of overnight stays (Source: ELSTAT, via To Vima, 2024).

On the resident side, the permanent population of the Municipality of Thira (Santorini island) was 15,550 at the 2021 census (Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority, 2021 Census, 2021). Most of those residents live in the main towns; if you are choosing a base, our Fira vs Oia comparison explains how the two differ. The wider Thira regional unit, which also covers Anafi, Folegandros, Ios, and Sikinos and so is broader than Santorini alone, had 19,044 residents at the 2021 census (Source: ELSTAT 2021 Census, via Wikipedia, 2021).

Cruise Ships

Cruise traffic is where Santorini's headline numbers come from, and where they are most often misreported.

In 2024, Santorini's port received approximately 1.35 million cruise passengers, making it Greece's second-busiest cruise port after Piraeus (Source: Hellenic Ports Association via GTP Headlines, 2024). That total rose about 4% over 2023, an increase of 46,869 passengers (Source: Hellenic Ports Association via GTP Headlines, 2024). A separate report from the same association puts the 2024 figure at 1.34 million cruise passengers across 750 ship arrivals, behind only Piraeus (1.73 million, 810 arrivals) and ahead of Mykonos (1.29 million, 768 arrivals) (Source: GTP Headlines, citing Hellenic Ports Association, 2024). News wires reported the same scale: more than 1.3 million cruise passengers in 2024, up 4% (Source: Courthouse News / AFP, 2024; The National Herald, 2024). Most of these passengers come ashore at the old port below Fira; our Santorini cruise port guide explains how that arrival point works.

The longer trend, drawn from figures the Santorini mayor has cited publicly:

Year	Cruise passengers	Ships	Source
2019	980,771	592	AFAR, citing Mayor Zorzos
2023	~1.3 million	~800	AFAR, citing Mayor Zorzos
2024	~1.35 million	750	Hellenic Ports Association via GTP
2025	~1.5 million (projected)	728 scheduled	AFAR, citing Mayor Zorzos; TNT Magazine
2026	No published count	595 scheduled	TNT Magazine

A note on the 2019 cruise figure. The mayor's count of 980,771 cruise passengers on 592 vessels in 2019 is the cleanest single number for that year (Source: AFAR, citing Mayor Nikos Zorzos, 2019). An HVS report separately describes 2019 as "almost one million" cruise passengers, a 30.9% increase over 2018 (Source: HVS, citing Hellenic Statistical Authority, 2019). The 2025 figure of roughly 1.5 million is a projection from the mayor, not a final count, so treat it as an expectation rather than a settled total (Source: AFAR, citing Mayor Zorzos, 2025).

On ship counts, the Hellenic Ports Association reported about 800 cruise ship calls on Santorini in 2023 (Source: Scottish Government cruise levies review, citing Hellenic Ports Association, 2023), against 750 calls in 2024 (Source: Hellenic Ports Association via GTP Headlines, 2024). Santorini's Berth Allocation System showed 728 cruise ships scheduled for 2025 and only 595 scheduled for 2026, an 18.27% drop (Source: TNT Magazine, citing Berth Allocation System data, 2025 and 2026).

The peak-day numbers are the ones that drove the policy debate. On peak days in high season, as many as 17,000 cruise passengers came ashore in a single day (Source: CNN Travel, 2024). The Maritime Executive reported a 2024 peak of 16,000 to 17,000 cruise passengers in one day, with multiple days at 11,000 (Source: The Maritime Executive, 2024). One specific day is widely cited: on 23 July 2024, 11,000 cruise passengers arrived in a single day (Source: Kathimerini, 2024). On days like that, the queue for the Santorini cable car up from the old port becomes one of the most visible signs of the crowding.

Santorini also tightened how concentrated its season is. The island cut its number of cruise "peak days" to 48 in 2024, down from 63 in 2023 (Source: The Maritime Executive, 2024; The National Herald, 2024). For national context, all Greek ports together received a record 5,490 cruise ships carrying 7.9 million passengers in 2024, up 13.2% in passengers over 2023 (Source: Hellenic Ports Association via GTP Headlines, 2024; Courthouse News / AFP, 2024).

Overtourism and the 2025 Measures

Overtourism is the reason most of these numbers get cited at all. The island draws roughly 2 million tourists a year against a year-round population under 16,000, a ratio that strains infrastructure and water resources (Source: The National Herald, 2024). Two policy tools were introduced to manage it: a daily cruise cap and a per-passenger levy.

The 8,000-per-day cruise cap

From 2025, Santorini enforces a daily cap of 8,000 cruise passengers, down from peak days that had reached roughly 17,000 (Source: Scottish Government review, citing the Municipal Port Fund of Thira; Kathimerini, quoting Mayor Zorzos, 2025). The figure traces back to a 2018 University of the Aegean study that concluded the island could sustainably handle up to 8,000 cruise passengers per day (Source: AFAR, citing Santorini municipality / University of the Aegean, 2018). Santorini's 2025 port rules, set by the Municipal Port Fund of Thira, state the port will not exceed 8,000 cruise passengers on the same day (Source: Scottish Government review, citing Municipal Port Fund of Thira, 2025). Mayor Nikos Zorzos confirmed the cap and its reinstatement from 2025 (Source: Kathimerini, quoting Mayor Zorzos, 2025).

The cap is enforced through a ranked berth allocation system rather than day-of turn-aways. The mechanism tightened between years: for 2025 the cap was calculated using an assumed 80% capacity per ship, and for 2026 it is calculated at 100% capacity, which effectively reduces the number of large vessels allowed per day (Source: Scottish Government review, citing Municipal Port Fund of Thira, 2025 and 2026; Travel And Tour World, 2026). The projected result for 2026 is 595 scheduled ships versus 728 in 2025, an 18.27% reduction (Source: Travel And Tour World, 2026). For comparison, Mykonos, which has the levy but no hard cap, instead saw cruise volumes rise 16% to 17% (Source: Travel And Tour World, 2026).

The cruise passenger levy

Greece introduced a tiered cruise passenger levy that took effect 1 July 2025 under Law 5162/2024, with collection at Santorini beginning 21 July 2025 (Source: GTP Headlines, 2025; gCaptain, reprinting Reuters, 2025). The Santorini and Mykonos rate is seasonal:

Season	Dates	Per passenger (Santorini & Mykonos)	Per passenger (other ports)
Peak	1 Jun to 30 Sep	€20	€5
Shoulder	1 Apr to 31 May, 1 to 31 Oct	€12	€3
Low	1 Nov to 31 Mar	€4	€1

(Source: GTP Headlines, 2025; gCaptain, reprinting Reuters, 2025.)

Levy revenue is split three ways: one-third to local municipalities where ports are located, one-third to the Maritime Ministry, and one-third to the Tourism Ministry (Source: GTP Headlines, 2025). On the first day collection ran at Santorini, four ships carrying around 8,400 passengers were scheduled to dock, described as about half the volume of some 2024 summer days (Source: Courthouse News / AFP, 2025).

The economics around it

The levy sits inside a large national tourism economy. PM Mitsotakis stated Greek tourism revenues were about €20 billion in 2023 on nearly 31 million tourist arrivals (Source: Reuters, 2023). More recently, Greek travel receipts reached a record €23.6 billion in 2025, up more than 9% from €21.6 billion in 2024, per Bank of Greece figures (Source: AFP via The Guam Daily Post, citing Bank of Greece, 2025). Inbound travel reached 37.98 million travellers in 2025, up 5.6% from 35.95 million in 2024, excluding cruise traffic (Source: AFP via The Guam Daily Post, citing Bank of Greece, 2025).

Seasonality and Capacity

Santorini's traffic is heavily compressed into the summer. Using the official monthly airport breakdown for 2024, August was the peak month with 514,055 passengers (350,903 international plus 163,152 domestic) (Source: Santorini Airport / Fraport Greece, 2024). The four-month June to September window carried 1,867,936 of the airport's 2,877,122 passengers in 2024, about 65% of the year's total (Jun 418,862 + Jul 509,677 + Aug 514,055 + Sep 425,342) (Source: Santorini Airport / Fraport Greece, 2024).

International traffic is even more seasonal than the total. In 2024, international passengers ran at 0 in January and February, peaked at 350,903 in August, and fell to 9 in December (Source: Santorini Airport / Fraport Greece, 2024). Flights followed the passenger decline into 2025: the airport recorded 23,676 flights in 2024 and 20,864 in 2025, down 11.9% (Source: Santorini Airport / Fraport Greece, 2024 and 2025).

Over the longer run, airport traffic roughly tripled in a decade, from 898,153 in 2013 to 2,877,122 in 2024, with a 2019 pre-pandemic peak of 2,300,408 and a COVID low of 572,963 in 2020, a 75.1% drop (Source: Santorini International Airport, via Wikipedia, 2013 to 2024).

On the accommodation side, the most recent peer-reviewed count puts 739 hotels in operation on Santorini, of which 69 are heritage hotels in the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels registry (Source: Sarantakou et al., Tourism and Hospitality (MDPI), citing Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, 2024). The supply skews upmarket. As of 2020, five-star units were only 17% of total hotel supply, but four- and five-star hotels together held about 55% of the island's rooms and beds (Source: HVS, citing Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, 2020). The number of five-star hotels reached 53 by 2020, up from 16 in 2012, with the average five-star property holding 36 rooms (Source: HVS, citing Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, 2020). An older figure put the island's total beds in hotels and rooms-to-let at approximately 70,000 (published 2015, reflecting 2014-era data) (Source: Greece Is, 2014).

A few more capacity and demand markers, all of medium confidence in the underlying reports:

• Average length of stay for international travelers held at three to four days through the 2010s (Source: HVS, 2010 to 2020).
• About 100 hotels stayed open through the winter of 2019, roughly one-eighth of total accommodation capacity (Source: HVS, 2019).
• Hotel occupancy exceeded 90% in the second half of July and in August 2021, with September at 85% then 75% across its two halves, near 2019 levels (Source: HVS, citing the Santorini Hotel Association, 2021).

Methodology and Sources

This page compiles published figures only. Where a Santorini-only figure does not exist (for example, island-level overnight hotel stays), we use the closest regional or national proxy and label it as such. Airport totals count passengers, not unique visitors. Cruise totals and ship counts vary slightly between sources because they come from different bodies (the Hellenic Ports Association, the Municipal Port Fund of Thira, and the mayor's office), so we cite each figure to its specific source. Confidence on the 2025 to 2026 cruise schedule numbers is lower because they reflect bookings and projections rather than completed counts. For 2026 there is no published cruise-passenger total yet, only a scheduled ship count, so we report only the ship figure.

Sources used:

• Santorini International Airport (JTR) / Fraport Greece traffic data: https://www.jtr-airport.gr/uploads/sys_nodelng/2/2893/Santorini_12_Traffic_2025vs2024.pdf
• Santorini International Airport, annual statistics, via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini_International_Airport
• Thira regional unit, 2021 Census, via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thira_(regional_unit)
• Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), 2021 Census permanent population: https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/17286366/mon_plith_2021.xlsx/7adf2ca4-0baf-7b19-2860-1e7caea81e7f?t=1679066566128
• ELSTAT 2024 arrivals and overnight stays, via To Vima: https://www.tovima.com/tourism/tourist-arrivals-in-greece-up-in-2024-elstat/
• Hellenic Ports Association (ELIME), via GTP Headlines (cruise records 2024): https://news.gtp.gr/2025/03/19/greek-cruise-industry-sets-new-records-in-2024-over-10-growth-expected-for-2025/
• GTP Headlines (cruise levy detail and ELIME 2024 port ranking): https://news.gtp.gr/2025/06/12/greece-to-charge-cruise-passenger-fee-from-july-1-up-to-e20-at-santorini-mykonos/
• Courthouse News Service / AFP (cruise tax launch): https://www.courthousenews.com/greece-starts-charging-tourist-tax-on-cruises/
• The National Herald (overtourism, cap, levy): https://www.thenationalherald.com/santorini-overrun-with-11000-cruise-ship-tourists-cap-coming-in-2025/ and https://www.thenationalherald.com/cruise-ship-passenger-tax-kicks-in-for-greek-island-visitors/
• AFAR (mayor's cruise figures, 2018 study): https://www.afar.com/magazine/greek-island-santorini-to-charge-tax-for-cruise-passengers
• Kathimerini (23 July 2024 peak day, cap statements): https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1244697/santorini-concerned-about-overtourism-as-11000-cruise-travelers-flood-the-island/
• The Maritime Executive (peak-day surge, peak days count): https://maritime-executive.com/article/greece-to-increase-port-fees-and-limit-cruise-ships-at-most-popular-islands
• CNN Travel (peak-day surge): https://www.cnn.com/travel/santorini-greece-overtourism-cruise-visitor-cap
• TNT Magazine (Berth Allocation System 2025 and 2026 schedules): https://www.tntmagazine.com/news/travel-news/greece-santorini-rhodes-visitor-caps-overtourism-2026/
• Travel And Tour World (cap mechanism, 2026 reduction): https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/p63rtlc9sl2v/
• Scottish Government, cruise ship levies evidence review (Municipal Port Fund of Thira rules, ship calls): https://www.gov.scot/publications/design-implementation-impacts-cruise-ship-levies-international-evidence-review/pages/4/
• gCaptain, reprinting Reuters (€20 levy, seasonal tiers): https://gcaptain.com/greece-imposes-20-euro-levy-on-santorini-cruise-visitors/
• Reuters (2023 revenue and arrivals): https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/greece-tax-cruise-ship-arrivals-protect-popular-islands-overtourism-2024-09-08/
• AFP via The Guam Daily Post, citing Bank of Greece (2025 receipts and arrivals): https://www.postguam.com/news/national/greece-set-new-tourism-record-in-2025/article_ff310582-4476-5b3a-aad5-93fbf5fcf0f5.html
• HVS, In Focus: Santorini, Greece (hotel supply, occupancy, length of stay): https://www.hvs.com/Print/In-Focus-Santorini-Greece?id=9333
• Sarantakou et al., Tourism and Hospitality (MDPI), heritage hotels (hotel count): https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/5/3/45
• Greece Is (Santorini in Numbers, beds): https://www.greece-is.com/santorini-in-numbers/

We keep this page current because we run Aroma Suites, a small cave hotel in Fira, and guests regularly ask us how busy the island will be when they visit.