- Hoteliers are celebrating a good season but already sounding the alarm, warning the government that next year could feel like the morning after the party if help does not arrive soon.
- A laundry list of complaints—high taxes, skyrocketing energy bills, crumbling infrastructure, and bureaucratic delays—was delivered directly to the Prime Minister’s desk, complete with the usual polite but desperate undertones.
- The much-delayed Special Spatial Framework for Tourism has now become the bogeyman of investment, scaring off anyone with money to spend and patience thinner than a hotel bedsheet.
- In return for their service as the “backbone of Greek tourism,” hoteliers would like a few things: less VAT, fewer fees, fewer social contributions, and, if possible, fewer headaches.
Letters, Pleas, and a Hint of Panic
It has been a solid tourism season for Greece. Beaches were packed, hotels were booked, and receipts filled the state’s coffers. But while most visitors were enjoying their cocktails, hoteliers were already worrying about 2026.
Hellenic Hoteliers Federation (POX) president Yiannis Hatzis sent a letter to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that read less like congratulations and more like a subtle SOS. His message: enjoy the boom while it lasts, because the horizon looks cloudy.
The culprits? Familiar ones: Greece’s heavy taxation, the constant pressure of energy and raw material costs, and infrastructure that groans under the weight of record arrivals. To top it off, the government still has not released the long-awaited Special Spatial Framework for Tourism—a document so delayed it risks becoming a Greek myth in itself. Investors, naturally, are not impressed.
What Do the Hoteliers Want?
The federation did not just complain; it offered a list of remedies:
- Lower accommodation VAT (because who does not love cheaper taxes).
- Cut the climate resilience fee (which nobody can explain without a flowchart).
- Reimburse municipal fees (because potholes do not fill themselves).
- Reduce social security contributions (paying staff is nice, but paying less for them is nicer).
- Finish the Special Spatial Framework and local plans (before the next generation of planners retires).
- Establish strict rules for short-term rentals (good luck telling Greeks not to rent their cousin’s apartment to tourists).
- Ease the tax burden on fuel to lower travel costs (planes and buses apparently run on more than optimism).
- Boost advertising spending (because Santorini sunsets need a marketing push, obviously).
- Upgrade and modernize infrastructure (pipes, roads, ports—pick your favorite weak spot).
Hatzis summed it up with a promise that, if only the state would listen, “future growth can be secured for large, medium, small, and very small businesses.” In other words, everyone from the luxury resorts to the pension owner with six rooms and a cat deserves a fighting chance.
The Reality Check
For now, Greece’s tourism boom remains intact. But the hotel sector’s letter is a reminder that beneath the glossy numbers lies a nervous industry, haunted by the fear that one bad season could undo years of gains.
The government may or may not deliver on the federation’s wish list. But one thing is sure: if 2026 does turn sour, hoteliers will not let anyone forget they warned us.
