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In 2025, tourism contributed €32.4 billion directly to our economy, or 13% of GDP, according to INSETE. Including its indirect effects on other sectors, its total contribution is estimated at between €71.3 billion and €85.9 billion, or 28.7% to 34.6% of GDP. This matters especially for our islands: island regions accounted for 58% of international tourism receipts in 2025.

Our fishermen also make their living from the sea. According to the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), our country had 11,416 motorised fishing vessels in 2024, with catches worth €249 million. For our islands, ports and coastal businesses, an oil spill could therefore have serious economic consequences, well beyond the environmental damage.

We have been through this before. In September 2017, the tanker Agia Zoni II sank in the Saronic Gulf, spilling around 500 tonnes of oil. The pollution affected 20 to 25 kilometres of coastline south of Piraeus and 3 to 4 kilometres on Salamina.

More than eight years later, compensation proceedings were still under way. According to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds), 424 claims totalling more than €100 million had been submitted. As of 5 March 2026, around €16.92 million had been paid. Not all of these claims correspond to damage that has been definitively recognised, but their size shows how large the economic cost of an oil spill can be.

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