TOURISM

The president of the Panhellenic Hoteliers Federation (HHF) Grigoris Tasios emphasizes that the average occupancy in the country’s hotels in June was 45%, when last year in the same month it did not exceed 20%.

The Greek Prime Minister described it as the "best example of European cooperation", noting that cooperation on the issuance of the digital certificate reminded us that Europe can be an incubator of ideas, innovation and solutions that can lead to change, in a rapidly changing world.

According to the decision by the UK’s Ministry of Transport,  English tourists can currently travel freely to Portugal, Gibraltar, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Falkland Islands.

"The model of tourism is changing and is changing not only in our country, but in almost all southern European countries", notes the president of the E-Real Estates network, Themistoklis Bakas.

Retsos made extensive reference to the fact that the pandemic brought the end to a previous tourism model, which paves the way for a holistic change of the model, in combination with the funds from the Recovery Fund.

Despite the hold up at the European level, the Greek government appears determined to implement Plan B through transnational agreements to make use of progress on vaccinations to boost tourism. According to Finance Ministry officials, the consequences of freezing tourism revenues in 2021 at very low levels would be catastrophic for the economy.

The picture looks worse in the business travel industry, where bookings in 2021 are expected to be 48.8% less than in 2019, 20% less in 2022, 10% less in 2023, but also 5% less in 2024. It is clear that the impact of the pandemic on business travel will be more permanent, as many executives now commonly meet digitally with colleagues, clients and associates living in another country.

One of the bright new arrivals is the new Athens Capital Hotel - MGalery in Syntagma Square, the first of the relevant chain of the Accor group operating in Greece. The new hotel opened its doors September 1st, in an investment of 25 million euros by Lampsa SA. of the Laskaridis group. The property has been leased for a period of 30 years, following a tender held on behalf of the owner, ie the Mutual Aid Fund for former Agricultural Bank employees.

According to the Ministry of Finance, a clear and safe picture of how the pandemic has affected GDP will exist in September with the weight falling on tourism, where in the third quarter of the year the sector does 60 percent of its annual business.

In consultation with the Finance Ministry, the businesses affected can suspend the contracts of their employees. In the areas of Halkidiki and Mykonos, special units of the National Transparency Authority (EAD) and the police will pick up checks overseeing the proper implementation of the restrictions.