- Greek hoteliers urge optimism despite booking slowdown.
- The Middle East crisis is already affecting reservations.
- The industry complains about the highest taxes in the Mediterranean.
- Hotels say the money they collect rarely returns to destinations.
- Warning that tourism competitiveness is slipping again.
None of these problems, of course, started with the latest crisis in the Middle East.
Greek hotels have been warning about taxation, energy costs, weak infrastructure, and declining competitiveness for years — during record seasons, during slow seasons, during pandemics, and during periods when the only crisis was too many tourists and not enough staff.
The war may have frozen bookings, but the structural issues were already there, quietly piling up behind the usual headlines about “another successful year for Greek tourism.”
In fact, if there is one thing the sector has shown real resilience in, it is the ability to carry the same problems from one season to the next without anyone in Athens feeling an urgent need to fix them.
Positive Agenda vs Frozen Bookings
The Greek hotel industry has officially entered its favorite phase of every international crisis: public optimism paired with private panic.
Speaking at the 9th regional conference of the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers in Kavala, industry leaders admitted that the situation remains unclear, reservations have slowed, and the Middle East crisis has already begun to shake the market — but insisted everyone should keep a “positive agenda,” because apparently optimism is now considered a business strategy.
According to Federation president Giannis Hatzis, the first days after the crisis began on February 28 even showed a rise in bookings, followed shortly by what he described as a noticeable freeze.
In other words, the usual pattern — first curiosity, then hesitation, then cancellations.
Hotel Chamber of Greece president Alexandros Vassilikos added that tourism has shown “high resilience” in the past and will do so again, a line repeated so often in the industry that it now sounds less like analysis and more like a ritual.
He stressed that tourism remains essential for regional economies with few alternatives, while also anticipating criticism that Greece has become overly dependent on tourism.
The message, translated into plain language, means: yes, it is a monoculture; it is vulnerable; however, we have no plan B.
Taxes, Fees, Costs — And The Same Old Complaints
Once the speeches moved past optimism, the real topic returned:
taxes, fees, and costs that keep rising no matter what happens in the world.
Hatzis pointed out that Greek hotels carry one of the heaviest tax burdens in the Mediterranean:
- VAT on accommodation: 13%
- Portugal: around 6%
- Climate / stay tax: up to €15 per night
- Croatia equivalent: around €2.5
- Municipal levy: 0.75% of turnover
- Additional compliance and energy costs are increasing yearly
None of this is new, but the timing is familiar. Every time a crisis appears, the industry suddenly remembers that the numbers no longer add up.
Hoteliers also complained that the money collected from tourism rarely returns to destinations in a meaningful way, leaving infrastructure, municipal services, and visitor experience lagging behind the prices tourists are charged.
As Hatzis warned:
“As long as the overall visitor experience does not improve, per-capita spending will break records only in nominal terms, not in real value.”
Translation: prices go up, quality stays the same, and inflation gets the credit.
He added that the choice is simple: either the extra tax revenue must return to the tourism product, or the level of taxation must be reconsidered.
This debate, of course, has been repeated for more than a decade, usually with the same result — more taxes, more speeches, and another conference next year.
Small Hotels, Big Pressure, and Familiar Blame
The discussion also touched on Northern Greece, where many hotels are small family businesses already struggling to compete.
Hoteliers there warned about what they described as unfair competition from foreign investors operating through short-term rentals, claiming these businesses distort the market without contributing to the local economy.
This complaint has also become standard in every tourism conference:
- When bookings drop → blame crises.
- When costs rise → blame taxes.
- When competition increases → blame short-term rentals.
- When nothing works → talk about resilience.
The Industry Remains Optimistic. It Has No Choice.
The official conclusion of the conference was that it is still too early to measure the impact of the Middle East crisis, that the sector must stay focused, and that competitiveness must return to the center of national strategy.
Unofficially, the message sounded closer to that tourism is the backbone of the economy and is under pressure again.
Since optimism is cheaper than reform, the industry will continue to do what it always does in uncertain times — repeat the word resilience until the numbers improve or the next crisis arrives.
The Middle East crisis did not create the problem. It simply removed the illusion that everything was fine. For a long time, the sector survived by calling every year a success and every difficulty temporary.
Now the temporary problems are starting to look permanent.
