Satisfaction of hoteliers from the initiative Kountoura – “Opens” the market for new investment in tourism

The abolition of the scheme of the control areas for the development of tourism, which has been in force since 1986, he proceeded to the ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, by ministerial…
the decision of whether. minister Elena Kountoura. This is a decision that gives the final solution to the elimination of problems of operation, reopening and upgrading of the tourist accommodation in these areas. It is noted that the relevant decision published in the government GAZETTE of 9 September.
At the same time, however, cycles of the market note that through such a decision shall be extended to the regime of lawlessness in the small accommodation from the State, creating conditions of unfair competition. As they emphasize, that decision combined with the lack of spatial tourism creates a gloomy environment for conducting high-range investments, which seek to know in advance the rules of the game.
According to the ministry, the abolition of that decision of 1986, it was considered imperative due to the outdated character, as it was in absolute disharmony with the current situation in the tourist market and it was totally foreign to the spirit of the downstream settings and with trends in the industry.
In the same announcement emphasized that the new decision is now given way to thousands of operating and licensed hotel business, class 1, 2, and 3 star located within those areas, to modernise, to upgrade quality and to have the possibility of inclusion in development and financial programmes of the NSRF.
Also, the ministry notes that it paves the way for the reopening of hotels that for various reasons had been put out of operation, for which it has been found significant investor interest, particularly in urban areas and of which the reopening prevented the maintenance of the annulled statute. Respectively, the ability to upgrade are now, and the numerous enterprises of rented rooms and apartments in the same areas.
So a hotelier in areas such as Rhodes, Kos, Corfu, Mykonos and Santorini can no longer upgrade the hotel without the need to proceed with a large investment to make it necessarily a four-star, as envisaged in the provision which abolished the minister. For example, a two-star hotel in Santorini could not be upgraded to three-star. On the other hand the decision to release the creation of small hotels and rooms to let in areas where this was prohibited, because of the large tourist development. It is not excluded that to “grow” new small hotels and even converted homes into rental of a small class in locations that already have a lot of tourist accommodations.

Indicative of the climate of enthusiasm that prevails in the hotel industry from the initiative Kountoura is the tweet of the President of the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers (POX), John Retsou immediately after the publication of the relevant decision.