A beach country popular among Europeans sharply increases the tax on tourists – an increase in the already existing accommodation tax as much as six times was promised in Greece. They intend to receive an additional 300 million euros from tourists. Which, as officially declared, will allegedly go to the “fund to combat the consequences of climate change.”
According to the Greek media, the Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated this while speaking at the 87th International Fair in Thessaloniki (TIF). According to statistics, in the first half of 2023, Greece saw a 26% year-on-year increase in tourist arrivals and a 23.9% increase in income. This gave the idea to the Greek government to increase the “stay tax” that visitors pay in the country’s hotels by 1-6 euros per night.
“The climate crisis is already here and forces us to look at everything differently,” said the Prime Minister of Greece, recalling the terrible fires of this season and other natural disasters. “We have already created a special reserve in the event of a natural disaster in the amount of 300 million, which will reach 600 million euros in 2024. An additional 300 million euros will come from increasing the daily accommodation tax from one to six euros, especially in luxury hotels,” he explained.
As a reminder, the accommodation tax has been in effect in Greece since January 1, 2018. Tourists pay every day for using rooms in hotels or any other type of accommodation. The tax is around 50 cents in one- and two-star hotels, €1.50 in three-star hotels, €3 in four-star hotels and €4 in 5-star hotels. It will grow, most likely, proportionally.