Strong Tourist Flows Creating Need in Greece for More Investments

Greece’s unprecedented performance this year in tourism has created the need for more investments in infrastructure, said property and market experts participating in the 23^rd Prodexpo conference held in Athens this week.

Speaking during a panel discussion, Stefanos Vlastos, CEO of Hellenic Public Properties SA (ETAD), said tourism as well as energy, logistics and real estate were the areas appealing most to investors. He added that ETAD had evolved into a market “disruptor” investing in properties in Nafplio, Heraklio, the Parnitha Xenia Hotel and the Parnassos ski center.

CEO of Hellenic Public Properties SA (ETAD), Stefanos Vlastos.

Also participating in the discussion, Secretary General of International Economic Relations Yannis Smyrlis referred to the momentum Greece had gained over the last few years as an attractive investor option.

“Real estate, like tourism, are traditional areas of investment activity in Greece… tourism is breaking all sorts of records and this is creating the need for new investments and works,” he said.

Secretary General of International Economic Relations, Yannis Smyrlis.

“We’ve managed to place the country in the Top 10 investment destinations in 2021… In three years’ time we went to 8 billion euros in strategic investments from 1 billion euros eight years ago,” he said.

“The momentum for Greece is different now because we viewed the crisis as an opportunity,” he said, adding that it was vital now to maintain stability and keep the country’s profile high.

Economist and real estate expert, George Kormas.

Lastly, referring to Greece’s outwardness, economist and real estate expert George Kormas said Greece had managed to become a ‘safe haven’ for investments over the last three years and this was due to the political stability.

Indicative of investor confidence in the country, he said were the large investments made by Google and Microsoft, adding that real estate was also a very important tool for growth.