Greece’s Hotel Chamber Wants Music Quota Bill Scrapped

Greece’s hoteliers are calling on Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni to step in and take action so that a controversial bill tabled by the Culture Ministry on music quotas at hotels, airports, malls, casinos and ports, be dropped.

In response to the announcement made earlier this week by Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (HCH) is requesting that Kefalogianni request the withdrawal of the bill and proceed with a legislative act that will “initiate reform in a European direction”.

The chamber goes on to add that it has made efforts to respect intellectual property and related rights and has signed several agreements with collective rights agencies in this direction.

It also initiated the creation of an online platform which would facilitate royalties payments by hoteliers. The platform led to 8,449 agreements between collective rights societies and hotels in 2019 reflecting the will to cooperate, said HCH in its statement.

HCH adds that a clear framework which sets out fees and a single payment method should be drawn up according to EU standards.