SETE Aims to Include Local Businesses in All-Inclusive Deals

In efforts to balance the benefits of incoming tourism to Greece, the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) aims to create a model that will see all-inclusive resorts working together with local businesses.

The move comes after complaints from sector professionals that all-inclusive deals are in effect depriving local businesses of potential customers and income.

Many have even called for a stop to all-inclusive deals, claiming the trend will lead to the decline of local businesses.

However, a recent report released by SETE Intelligence, the association’s research department, indicates that spending outside the hotel for shopping per all-inclusive guest is no smaller on average compared to spending by other visitors, amounting to 144 euros per visitor.

The all-inclusive trend became stronger in Greece after 2008, when the economic crisis set in. Visitors, primarily from Europe, seek to travel on a budget and many hotels in Greece resorted to offering all-inclusive deals.

According to SETE Intelligence figures, the total income from all-inclusive travel to Greece amounts to 2 billion euros annually. Spending on food and drinks inside the hotel instead of local restaurants, bars or cafes comes to approximately 250 million euros annually.

Indicatively, in the summer of 2014, a total of 210 four- or five-star hotel units (a total of 54,705 rooms) worked with all-inclusive clientele, representing 2.2 percent of the total number of hotels in Greece.