Greece: Big Tourism Investments in the Pipeline

Yiorgos Tziallas, Secretary General for Tourism Policy and Development.

The Tourism Ministry on Tuesday announced that investment plans for the development of luxury resorts in various Greek destinations were currently being processed in its special “one-stop-shop” service established to facilitate large-scale projects.

Speaking during a press conference in Athens, the secretary general for tourism policy and development, Yiorgos Tziallas, informed that investments concerning 15 new five-star tourist accommodation complexes have been submitted within the ministry’s special service for the licensing of tourism investments (EYPATE). The value of the 15 projects was said to be up to five billion euros.

“This service acts as a ‘one-stop-shop’ and takes care of all licensing stages from the moment a file and documents are submitted, to the issuing or reissuing of building permits and leads to the issuance of the tourist business special operation seal”, Mr Tziallas said, adding that the EFPATE service is currently in the process of licensing 11 tourist accommodation complexes.

Kea

According to the the secretary general, the building permits for two investment projects in Laconia and Kea have been issued, while joint ministerial decisions have been issued for another four projects in Corfu, Milos and Ios. The secretary general added that a joint ministerial decision involving an investment project in Messinia is also in the issuing stage, while the processes for the remaining four are progressing.

Moreover, during the last six months investors have expressed interest to create another four large-scale tourist accommodation complexes — two in Crete, one in Ilida and another in Limnos.

Mr Tziallas informed that for the last two years, the EFPATE service has been handling the licensing procedures for investment submissions concerning the creation, modernization, expansion and upgrading of some 100 hotel units, counting over 300 beds.