The amendment submitted to the parliament provides that until 2025, by the decisions of the ministry, annual “Tourism for All” programs can be formed, the purpose of which is to stimulate demand in this area of the country’s economy.
In particular, the amendment made to the bill “Adaptation of Greek legislation to the Directive (EU) 2019/2161 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directives 98/6/EC, 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to better compliance and modernization of the union’s rules on consumer protection and other provisions provides: The Ministry of Tourism intends to prepare, by 12/31/2025, annual programs to increase the demand for domestic tourism called “Tourism for All”, which are funded by the national development program, reports dikaiologitika.gr.
By a joint decision of the Ministers of Finance, Development and Investment, Digital Governance and Tourism, the program will include:
- conditions for participation in the program,
- application process,
- terms of implementation of the main part of the program,
- issues related to financing, management, monitoring and other related activities for the operation and execution of the program,
- any other technical or operational matters necessary for its implementation.
The primary purpose of regulation is stimulating domestic demand for tourism, taking into account adverse developments at the European and international level, i.e. the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the energy crisis.
They have already hit and are expected to hit the country’s tourism sector in the future, as also mentioned in a recent International Monetary Fund assessment of the impact of the war in Ukraine on economic growth (World Economic Outlook, April 2022: War slows global economic recovery ).
In addition to the aforementioned goal, the annual Tourism for All program aims to eliminate all negative circumstances, international or domestic, that may affect Greek tourism until 2025. The long-term goals of the program include correction of the imbalance observed over time between the demand for inbound and domestic tourism.
Free Pass Program
Minister of Tourism Mr. Kikilias, speaking about the program “Tourism for All”, said the following: “We have allocated 30 million euros for social tourism (ie the program “Tourism for All”). The program is addressed to all our fellow citizens who are in a vulnerable position. Thus, the Greek government proves once again how much it supports the Greeks.”
The beneficiaries, terms and conditions of participation in this year’s Tourism for All application process have not yet been specified. Judging by what the Deputy Minister of Tourism Sophia Zaharaki recently mentioned, this year the program will reach approximately 200,000 beneficiaries.
In any case, both in this and in the coming years, the beneficiaries, conditions, as well as any process related to the implementation of the program (implementation time, executive body, financing, management, monitoring, etc.) will be determined by a joint decision of the ministers finance, development and investment, digital management and tourism.
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