Hotel Chamber Objects To New Development Law

The draft bill on the new development law steers away from present tourism policy and from the established positions of the tourism industry, the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels said last month.

The new development law, which is aimed at mobilizing private investment, was submitted for public consultation until 23 August and then was scheduled to be tabled for a vote in parliament.

“The draft bill on the new development law treats all sectors of the national economy the same and does not serve the specific needs of the tourism industry,” the chamber underlined in an announcement.

The chamber underlined that the key objective of the new law should be, as in the past, the modernization and upgrading of existing hotel capacity. “But instead the draft law holds back low class hotels from participating in the process and excludes high-class establishments from the modernization and renovation programs all together,” the chamber said.

According to the chamber, it is almost certain that small hotel units that would attempt to take part in the development law would eventually become unsustainable.

The chamber added that the draft law does not promote hotel capacity among Greek tourist destinations and does not help the regions that lag in tourism.

Also, the chamber underlined that it is “absurd” to equally subsidize investment for establishing new or for expanding existing hotels on popular islands like Rodos and Mykonos on the same scale as units on smaller islands such as Anafi, Kastelorizo, Nisyros or Kasos only because they belong to the same region.

The new development law will come into effect as of 1 January 2011 and the government hopes to stimulate private investment to achieve the desired growth and to create new job positions.

The Ministry of Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping expect to give out some 4.3 to 5.7 billion euros for development investment during 2011-2013.