One of Greece’s most famous landmarks is trialing limiting its daily visitors, starting today.

The Athens Acropolis archaeological site attracts visitors from around the world keen to marvel at the ancient cultural spot. Going forward, visitors will be capped at 20,000 a day, with a booking website keeping track of footfall and enforcing an hourly slot system.

In an interview with Greek radio station Real FM in August, Greek culture minister Lina Mendoni said that the Acropolis currently has up to 23,000 daily visitors, calling this a “huge number.”

  • CuriousLibrarian@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Although I’d love to see the buildings of the Acropolis I would never go anywhere that has 20,000 visitors a day. Nope.

    • pseudorandom@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      Was just there on a hotter than Hades day around 6 PM. Still a ton of people. Everyone was trying to find shade. Staff had clear paths through people just sitting in the shade along the main path. Glad I went, but wouldn’t go back. There’s honestly not much there that you can get close to.

    • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Grand Central Station in NYC has 750,000 visitors a day.

      JFK Airport gets 150,000 visitors a day.

      Mall of America gets 110,000 visitors a day.

      I think you wouldn’t be able to leave your house and go just about anywhere if you are so hell bent on not going anywhere heavily trafficked. If the biggest mall in America gets 110,000 visitors a day, your local mall might still be in the tens of thousands a day.

      • CuriousLibrarian@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I guess my statement was too broad, I don’t want to go to any tourist attraction that has that many. I have been in many airports and malls, but not for the joy of experiencing nature or history, my two favorite things.

  • Charliebeans@slrpnk.net
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    10 months ago

    How does this number compare to other popular attractions? For me it’s hard to comprehend this number

    • Bonehead@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      To give you some perspective, Disney World sees roughly 160,000 visitors a day. The EPCOT Center alone inside Disney World sees 34,000 visitors daily.

      • MxM111@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        Yes, and now Acropolis will get Disney World lines. And I am sure the Acropolis Genie app is coming, where just by paying $35 you can conveniently reduce your wait time from 1 hour to just 55 minutes! And of course in order to take advantage of the app, you have to use it exactly at 7am, because who the fuck is sleeping at 7 during vacation?!

      • xNIBx@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        The Acropolis of Athens is extremely small. EPCOT is 40x larger(123 hectares vs 3 hectares).

        • Bonehead@kbin.social
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          10 months ago

          Yes, I do. But not everyone does, apparently. But most people know what Disney World is, and the scope of it.

          Spoiler alert, it’s not disney world

          That was the point I was making. It’s not the size of Disney World. It’s much smaller, hence the lower attendance. So it gives you some perspective…

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    The Athens Acropolis archaeological site attracts visitors from around the world keen to marvel at the ancient cultural spot.

    Going forward, visitors will be capped at 20,000 a day, with a booking website keeping track of footfall and enforcing an hourly slot system.

    The goal is the new system – which is currently in its trial stages and will likely be formally enforced from April 2024 – will tackle overcrowding and guarantee the safety and longevity of the monument.

    Built on a rocky hill in the fifth century BC, the ancient Acropolis is home to a collection of historic ruins, buildings and artifacts – the most famous being the Parthenon temple, dedicated to the goddess Athena.

    The site and its monuments “form the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed by Greek Antiquity to the world,” according to UNESCO.

    Earlier this summer, the Acropolis closed due to soaring temperatures amid a record-breaking European heatwaves.


    The original article contains 286 words, the summary contains 153 words. Saved 47%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • query@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Fair enough. It’s not like we need everyone to personally survey every landmark, especially with everyone sharing everything they do.

    If anything, if you’re going there to take a picture of it, you shouldn’t be allowed in. Look at someone else’s, if that’s the important part.