Greece fines businesses £600,000 for breaking strict beach rules

Greece is cracking down on businesses breaching the rules on its beaches – with fines of over €800,000 (£600,000) having been issued in the last three weeks.

According to the Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance, more than 4,500 beach checks were carried out in July after citizens complained of countrywide rule violations.

Greece introduced a series of tightened beach rules in March, including a minimum four-metre gap between sunbeds and the shoreline for improved accessibility and sunbed caps to just 30 per cent of the beach, to control overcrowding on its famed coast.

Over 750 businesses on 150 Greek beaches have been investigated by the police and municipal authorities since the start of the summer, with fines applied to those breaking the rules.

Illegally setting up sunbeds beyond a business’ designated boundaries and occupying beach areas without a lease are among the violations that resulted in fines this July.

The ministry reported that 20 cases of illegally occupied beach areas by sun loungers in Rhodes, Volos, Corfu, Parga, Thessaloniki and Heraklion are accountable for a large portion of the €800,000 fines.

Many of the 4,500 complaints were submitted via the MyCoast beach planning app or phone calls from locals to the ministry’s local real estate services.

The Halkidiki peninsula in Macedonia topped the list of areas with beach rule-breaking complaints.

The popular Greek coast received 1,396 complaints across eight beaches and 38 businesses, with eight violations resulting in a fine.

Preveza and Eastern Attica, both with over 500 registered complaints, had 35 and 49 businesses inspected for flouting beach rules.

As for holiday hotspots, in the Cycladic Islands (409 complaints), Corfu (325 complaints) and the Dodecanese Islands (163 complaints) one, three and nine violations were fined respectively.

Greece’s Ministry of Economy and Finance said: “The broader picture that emerged following the massive checks conducted in the last weeks is clearly improved compared to previous years as the majority of businesses providing beach services have conformed to the new rules and regulatory framework.

“However, the checks of complaints also found many violations which ranged from a lack of signs to overtaking space limits with sun shades and even arbitrarily occupying public space without a concession contract.

“In all cases where checks found violations the businesses face administrative fines, while those operating without a concession contract were shut down.”

The finance ministry added that the checks will continue at a “more intensive pace” throughout the summer and priority will be given to the areas with the highest number of complaints submitted by citizens.

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