The Central Archaeological Council approved a ministry of Culture proposal to increase entrance prices for archaeological sites and museums in Greece as of January 1, 2016, according to each site’s numbers of visitors.
Entry to some of Greece’s most famous museums and monuments is to become notably more expensive after the country’s government announced price rises that could go as high as 150%. The highest admission prices will be charged at the Acropolis of Athens and the Knossos prehistoric palace on Crete.
Acropolis entrance at 20 euros
At the site of the Acropolis, home of the iconic Parthenon temple, entrance will rise to 20 euros per person (10 euros reduced price), from the current 12 euros (6, reduced). The price will include the north and south slopes of the Acropolis. The ticket for the ruins Knossos will be 15 euros, from the current 6-euro price.
Officials announced that the prices at Greece’s 200 state museums would be affected. The increases would apply to sites such as ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, while tours of Greece’s approximately 20,000 archaeological dig sites – previously free – would also cost more under the government’s plans.
New ticket pricing
Sites such as the the Asclepieion Sanctuary and its museum in Epidaurus as well as the ancient Mycenae citadel will charge 12 euros each (6, reduced), from the current 6 and 8 euros, respectively. Tickets will cover both the site and its related museum.
Entrance at the Ancient Agora of Athens (with the Stoa of Attalus museum) and the archaeological site of ancient Corinth (with its museum) will admit tourists with 8 euros per person (4, reduced). Nemea, Marathon, the Acrocorinth (citadel of Corinth), the catacombs and settlement of Polichni on Melos island and the Amphiaraeion will not see a great increase in ticket pricing.
Entrance costs
In terms of museums, entrance prices for each will be formulated as follows, for example:
– Large and central museums like the National Archaeological Museum and Archaeological Museum of Iraklio, 10 euros (5 euros, reduced)
– The Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens, the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes, and the Spinalonga former leper colony (off Crete), 8 euros
– The Archaeological Museum of Patras, Prehistoric Museum of Thera (Santorini), the Numismatic Museum of Athens, the Zakros Palace on Crete and the archaeological site and Museum of Amphipolis, 6 euros.
The Council also approved the halving (50%) of ticket prices for the winter season, namely, from April to October, “to allow everyone, especially Greeks, to visit archaeological sites and museums at a lower price,” the secretary general of the ministry, Maria Vlazaki-Andreadaki commented.
Free entrance every first Sunday
The free entrance every first Sunday of the month which is currently observed during the winter season will remain in place, according to the culture officials.
The move comes despite worries expressed by Greek travel agents that the price rises would drive tourists away. Tourism is a key industry for the country, with a reported 26 million tourists visiting the country each year.
Gradual introduction
The Federation of Greek Travel Agents wrote to the country’s prime minister Alexis Tsipras, as well as its culture ministry, to ask that the price rises not be “enforced abruptly” but be introduced gradually over a three-year period.
“The value-added tax hikes on all goods and tourism services, as well as the announced increases to the ticket prices of museums and archaeological sites, aggravate the travel package so much that it will become uncompetitive in the end”, the federation’s president, Lysandros Tsilidis, noted.
