Greece’s Tourism Body SETE Outlines 7 Key Priorities

SETE President Yiannis Paraschis. Photo source: SETE

The newly elected president of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), Greece’s tourism body that represents the majority of the country’s tourism businesses, set out seven key priorities during a national hotelier association presidents council in Thessaloniki over the weekend.

Addressing the meeting of the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation (POX), SETE President Yiannis Paraschis said more needed to be done to ensure the sector remained competitive and in tune with changing market conditions and increasing demand.

The seven key issues that must be addressed, according to Paraschis are:

– the regulation of short-term Airbnb-style rentals, which has been a thorny issue for the sector;
– the recently announced climate crisis tax;
– the need for specially trained human resources in tourism to address staff shortages;
– the formulation and finalization of zoning and urban planning regulations in tourism;
– the need for energy upgrades and modernization of tourism enterprises; ensuring that tourism businesses in Greece are resilient to climate crisis;
– and issues concerning destination and infrastructure management.

Paraschis went on to forecast that 2023 would be a very positive year for the sector which will manage to exceed pre-Covid 2019 arrival figures and revenues, paving the way for a strong future.

However, he underlined that there was “no room” for lack of awareness and that both tourism professionals and government officials and bodies would have to work together to ensure that this year’s positive performance continues in the years to come. In this direction he invited the presidents of hotel associations across Greece to “continue working together, to strengthen our cooperation, and to undertake the initiatives required to ensure the prosperity and sustainable development of the tourism sector in Greece”.

Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni also attended the meeting of the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation.