Investing in the Greek Tourism Sector
With more than 16,000 kilometers of coastline, more than 6,000 islands, and a well-established tourism industry, Greece presents a prime investment opportunity in the Tourism sector. The country is one of the top global tourist destinations for sun and beach holidays, and also provides attractive propositions for year-round themed holidays. The competitive advantages of Greece, such as rich cultural heritage, natural beauty and geographical variety, have been attracting significant tourism investments in recent years, thus further strengthening Greece’s image as an ideal destination both for holidays and tourism-related investments.
Even during the recent crisis, the tourist industry in Greece has been one of the main stays of economic growth and employment, with a continued growth in tourist arrivals and revenues driven mainly by the determined efforts of the Greek tourist authorities and associations to upgrade the tourist product offering.
The tourist industry is currently undergoing a major strategic improvement initiative, focusing on the expansion of the tourist period, the attraction of higher-value tourist segments (High-net-worth, affluent), the increase of average daily spending and the opening of new tourist markets.
Over the next years, Greece is poised to make significant investments in the tourist industry, focused on transforming the traditional “sun & beach” tourist product into a number of higher-value, more focused products, centered around:
• Integrated resorts – holiday housing new developments in existing and new tourism destinations taking advantage of the new legislation for the development of integrated resorts and for the acquisition of residence permits by non EU citizens who invest in Real estate
• Thematic sun & beach tourism, where specific “themes” such as wellness, romance or luxury are used to add value and to extend the typical sun & beach holidays
• Nautical tourism, both in terms of attracting a larger amount of cruise liners and in terms of extending the offering for yachting/ sailing holidays
• City Break tourism focused mainly around the two main cities of Athens and Thessaloniki
• Cultural and religious tourism, upgrading and leveraging the several historical, heritage and religious monuments and museums of Greece
• Medical tourism which presents an exciting growth opportunity if the skilled Greek medical personnel is combined with investments in existing facilities and infrastructure, and
• Meetings and Incentives (MICE) tourism positioning Greece as a major meeting and conference center for regional associations and companies
A very important tool for the growth of the tourism sector is the new investment law. The law intends to support investments that foster the improvement of ports, the promotion of different forms of tourism and the upgrading of winter vacation establishments.
The Public Private Partnership scheme is a key investment instrument that concerns infrastructure incentives mainly on marinas and thermal springs. On the other hand, the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) aims to financially support infrastructure works that take place at different regions of the country. Today, there are many opportunities to invest in hotel units sector, while investors can obtain large estates of unique beauty in order to establish new marinas.
