Agreement for Hotel Classification in Effect

Tourism Development Minister Fanni-Palli Petralia recently signed an agreement for the modification of presidential decree 43 of 2002 that will redefine the prerequisites for the classification of hotels into the star system.

The aim is to allow the hotel industry to abide by international standards in so far as the classification of hotels is concerned.

The new regulations will adopt a more flexible and well-adjusted system to Greek reality and there will be a shift of classification from technical to functional characteristics of hotel groups, and thus place emphasis on the quality of services provided.

The new regulations will open the road for the classification of stars for all hotels whereas until recently 40 percent of hotels could not legally be classified by international standards and this left 60 percent of hotels with problems of indefinite classification.

An international competition has been launched by the ministry worth some ten million euros to elect a certified body that will be responsible for the classification of hotels throughout Greece based on the new criteria. The process is currently well underway and the ministry aspires that Greece will soon have a united, internationally recognized and organized system of hotel classification.