HOLIDAYS ONLY IN DREAMS: HOW RISING PRICES ARE DEPRIVING EUROPEANS OF RESORTS

A phenomenon that experts call “holiday poverty” is gaining momentum in Europe: rising prices and low income growth are making a full-fledged holiday less and less affordable for locals.
As reported by the Independent, the problem is particularly acute in Greece. Local families are increasingly replacing traditional week-long trips to the islands with one-day trips to the beach, taking food in containers and their own umbrellas with them. At the same time, the country’s tourism industry is booming – the number of foreign tourists in 2025 is expected to be four times greater than the population of Greece.
According to the European Union, almost half of Greeks could not afford a week’s holiday last year – this is the second highest figure in the EU after Romania. In Italy, every third resident faces this problem, in France – every fifth. High prices make holidays virtually unaffordable: a six-day trip to a Greek island for a family of four costs around 3,500 euros, with an average income of just over 1,000 euros per month. At the same time, rent and utilities eat up a large part of earnings, and tourism workers are often left without their own holidays.
The situation is no better in Italy: renting sun loungers and umbrellas on popular beaches costs up to 80 euros per day, and several hundred euros at prestigious resorts.
Thus, “holiday poverty” is becoming a pan-European problem. Despite the flourishing tourism industry, a significant portion of EU citizens are forced to look for cheaper alternatives or refuse summer trips altogether, which highlights growing social inequality.