Dozens of Tourism Projects Slated for Eastern Macedonia – Thrace Region

Kavala port, northern Greece

A total of 144 tourism projects are in the pipeline for the Eastern Macedonia-Thrace region after securing EU and regional funding.

Of the 144 projects, which include accommodation facilities, rental services and a theme park, 33 will be funded under the “Strengthening the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium-sized Tourism Enterprises” 2014-2020 scheme, while the remaining 111 – budgeted at 35.8 million – will receive combined financial support through the region (17.9 million euros) and private entities (17.9 million euros).

Thassos island, Kinira bay.

The projects were selected among 7,297 plans submitted to the economy ministry, last year out of which 2,527 were found to be eligible for funding.

The tourism projects include accommodation facilities (87), tourist boat rentals (22), a theme park-museum (1) and a car rental business (1) and are broken down as follows with regard to Macedonia-Thrace regional units:

A total of 99 projects are planed for the Regional Unit of Kavala which includes 55 projects in the Thassos Municipality; 17 in the Paggaio Municipality; 13 for the Kavala Municipality; and 7 in the Nestos Municipality. The regional units of Drama, Xanthi, Rodopi and Evros follow with 3,10, 2, and 4 respectively.

Xanthi, Greece

“With the implementation of private investments, new jobs will be created and these will contribute to the economic and tourist upgrade of our region,” said Alternate Regional Governor for Tourism, Kostas Antoniadis, adding that cooperation between public and private stakeholders is vital.

Antoniadis went on to add that 2018 came to a close on a positive note for the region. “This is what we can conclude from the figures, revenues and tourism flows to the region; 2018 was the fourth consecutive year that we had positive data and tourism growth,” he said.