Greek Hoteliers Not Happy With New Airbnb Regulations

Greek hoteliers are not happy with the newly announced regulations concerning short-term tourist rental activity, claiming these are “outdated” and “fail to address the intensifying housing problem”. They are calling for public deliberation of the draft law.

Commenting on the new set of rules, newly-elected Hellenic Hoteliers Federation (POX) President Ioannis Hatzis said these were outdated and not addressing the heightened housing problem.

“We’ve at a point today where the housing crisis has reached uncontrollable dimensions, making it necessary to implement time or even geographical limits, depending on the special features of each region as is the case in other tourist destinations across Europe,” said Hatzis, adding that jurisdiction should be handed over to local government organizations.

Hellenic Hoteliers Federation President Ioannis Hatzis.

Greek hoteliers go on to underline that the ultimate goal should be the “balanced tourism development in terms of sustainability, which will not come at the expense of local communities and legitimate tourist accommodation services providers”.

“In this context, measures should not be taken that disproportionately burden the Greek tourism product and further drive down its competitiveness,” said Hatzis.

Referring to a newly announced climate crisis resilience charge, Hatzis said it should be implemented across all accommodation services.

 “Hotel enterprises can contribute to this effort through the approximately 136 million euros collected annually from the existing accommodation tax. But this is where the industry’s obligation should stop. The remaining budgeted amount could be raised by imposing a similar fee on the approximately 28.6 million short-term rental nights spent annually,” he said, adding that the charge should also be implemented on related sectors which have a significant environmental footprint.

 Hoteliers go on to note that they have repeatedly submitted opinions and recommendations in this direction. “This gives us the right to expect that issues which concern us will be discussed on time and in no case decided in our absence and ultimately at the expense of the intended result. We expect, therefore, with the publication of the draft law, that a substantial consultation on these two issues, which are of major importance for the hotel industry and, by extension, for the national economy as a whole, will take place, albeit with a delay,” POX concluded in its statement.