PAROS - After two bad years because of the pandemic, tourist numbers bounced back spectacularly last year, and this summer the Greek island of Paros hopes to do even better.
Construction sites are abuzz all over the fishing village with its whitewashed houses typical of the Cyclades.
"It's crazy right now," said local plumber Nikos Kritikos, hammering away at an old sewer pipe of a house under renovation.
"Everyone is repairing, painting... to be on time", he told AFP.
Tourist arrivals in Greece hit 27.8 million last year, an 89.3 percent increase over the previous year, according to the Bank of Greece.
Revenue this year is expected to match that high of 17.6 billion euros, according to the association of Greek tourism enterprises.
"The tourist season this year will be the best ever," said Paros mayor Markos Kovaios, with the island's permanent population of 15,000 increasing fivefold last summer.
Tourism accounts for nearly a quarter of Greece's GNP, and has been instrumental in helping to shore up the country's economy during the pandemic.
But as with other European travel hotspots such as Barcelona and Venice, some are beginning to wonder whether the tourism boom has gone too far.
Nearby tourism complexes and luxurious villas are sprouting up, some tucked away in ravines.
"Tourist overexploitation" has brought a rise in the cost of living.
In the past, Paros, like many other tourist hotspots, had some agricultural life. But today only a few olive groves and vineyards remain. And fishing has been changed by the tourism industry's gastronomic requirements.
Another Cycladic island, Sifnos, earlier this month called on the state to rein in "unbridled" tourism growth.
On Mykonos in particular many fear the situation has gotten out of hand.
Last month an archaeologist tasked with monitoring illegal construction on the island was badly beaten outside his home in Athens.
A Greek police squad specialising in organised crime is investigating the case.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis convened a special cabinet meeting on the issue, at which he vowed to enforce building laws and improve policing on Mykonos.