Greece’s Small Accommodation Owners Call on Gov’t to Reexamine Spatial Planning Law

Greece’s small and medium-sized accommodation facility owners are calling on Environment Minister Theodoros Skylakakis and Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni to reexamine the new Special Spatial Planning Framework citing objections to a number of its provisions.

More specifically, in response to the spatial planning framework set to be finalized in the first quarter of this year and aimed at creating the conditions for a more sustainable tourism product, the Greek Confederation of Tourist Accommodation Enterprises (SETKE) said it was creating unfair competition on the market.

Under the provisions of the new framework, the construction of small tourist accommodation facilities is prohibited but large hotel units are still allowed, said SETKE, which will result in an increase in beds, “creating unfair competition at the expense of small tourist accommodation businesses”.

At the same time, the framework, which divides the country into five zones based on saturation levels and sets development limits, is inaccurate, said SETKE. “We’ve found that the ‘saturated-controlled’ zone includes areas that are not considered particularly saturated in contrast to others,” it said.

The association is calling for “a holistic approach to the problem” and for local communities (local government and agencies) to be able to decide which areas are saturated and where accommodation facility construction should stop and this should also apply to short-term rentals.

It goes on to add that in addition to reviewing the new special spatial planning framework, the government should also finance and implement necessary projects and infrastructure that will contribute to the development of each region so that these can respond to the needs of increasing tourist traffic and at the same time hand over jurisdiction to local governments to classify areas in terms of saturation and needs.