Greece Tables Question Concerning Natural Disaster Support for Affected Tourism Enterprises

Α Copernicus map of the floods in Greece on September 7, 2023. A total flooded area of 72,950 had been detected. Photo source: Copernicus EMS

Greece posed a question in European Parliament this week concerning additional EU aid to support tourism enterprises impacted by natural disasters.

Member of TRAN (Committee on Transport and Tourism), Greek European Parliament MP Elena Kountoura, who was the country’s former tourism minister, submitted a question to the European Commission calling for the possibility of financial support – from existing or new EU funding tools – for Greek tourism professionals affected by the recent floods and fires.

Among others, Kountoura referred to the tourism enterprises impacted by the recent floods in Thessaly and the Magnesia region in Central Greece, adding that announced compensation will not suffice to cover the destruction caused.

In addition to infrastructure damages, Kountoura said tourism enterprises in Magnesia are also seeing massive cancelations for the upcoming months.

Questions addressed to European parliament include what financial instruments are available; the size of funds channeled to support professionals and SMEs, including those in F&B and tourism in Greece; the absorption rate of 2023 funds in the Thessaly-Magnesia region; and whether the Commission intends to propose new financial instruments, specifically a new fund to support professionals and small and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector to deal with the effects and damages of future natural disasters.

In September, the Federation of Hellenic Associations of Tourist & Travel Agencies (FedHATTA) in Thessaly said tourism enterprises hit by Storm Daniel would need more than a year to recover losses and restore damage and called on the government to take immediate measures.