SEV: Greece Tourism Infrastructure Needs Upgrade Now

The Greek tourism sector is showing healthy signs of recovery but for growth to continue infrastructure should be upgraded immediately, according to the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV).

In its weekly bulletin, SEV underlines the need to invest in high quality infrastructure and products which in turn will ensure profitability in the long term.

The SEV report cites the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 released by the World Economic Forum earlier this year according to which Greece ranked 24th among 136 countries in terms of competitiveness but 44th for the quality of tourism infrastructure, which includes hotels, resorts, recreational centers etc. Spain, France and Germany were in top three spots.

SEV backs the findings of other bodies reiterating the need for the state as well as tourism stakeholders to look to the future despite the sector’s improved performance in the last few years, underlining the lagging revenue and the current geopolitical circumstances in the region as points that require further examination.

To achieve this Greece must guarantee a stable political and economic environment in order to attract investment which will tap into the increasing number of tourist flows to the country attracting higher income travelers and diversifying its product.

It also suggests improving overall competitiveness of the tourist product, which is now suffering from high taxation passed on to the customer, as well as simplifying the investment process and licensing procedures for new infrastructure which will bring in private investors and pave the way for diverse pricing policies depending on offered product.