Request for Development Law Reform

The Hellenic Chamber of Hotels and the Research Institute for Tourism recently expressed to the secretary of economy and finance, Yiannis Papathanasiou, the tourism sector’s need for an immediate reform of the development law.

The chamber said the reform of the development law is needed in order to strengthen the incentives for modernization and the improvement of existing hotel units.

Also mentioned was the development of the infrastructure of tourist areas in line with the creation of new units throughout undeveloped regions of Greece.

And according to recent press reports, Tourism Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos agrees with the chamber. He is quoted as saying that government investment incentives have to target the renovation of existing hotels, rather than the development of new ones, which have proliferated in recent years.

The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises also supported the need for changes in the development law for tourism businesses especially now that tourism arrivals have reached a peak (but far from actual potential) after three years of steady gains.

Mainly, the association supports the exclusion of grants for new hotels within overcrowded areas of Greece, the modernization of existing businesses and the creation of new tourism infrastructure, along with the urgent improvement of the general infrastructure.

The association recently said that this year’s tourist traffic for the January-July 2008 period does not show practically any change against the same period last year, as the increase is only 0.07 percent according to airport figures of arrivals.