An increase in the climate resilience levy on hotels and other accommodation and a new levy on cruise passengers to address sustainability issues in the country were discussed at the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) conference held in Costa Navarino.
As a reminder, the climate resilience fee, which will apply from 1 January 2025, will increase from April to October, from €0.5 to €5, depending on the type of accommodation. At the same time, in order to strengthen the ports, the infrastructure of the respective municipalities that receive a high number of tourists and the country’s tourism product in general, a cruise fee per cruise ship passenger will be imposed.
Speaking at a discussion at ABTA’s travel conference, the director of the Greek Tourism Organisation in the UK and Ireland, Ms. Eleni Skarveli, was asked to defend these decisions, which may affect Greek tourism, stressing that she does not believe that the tax increase will create a problem for incoming tourists.
“I don’t think that’s an issue,” she said.
Responding to comments from easyJet chiefs that tourism taxes could hit demand by increasing the cost of family holidays, with the airline’s chief executive Johan Lundgren noting that a £6 per person increase in airfares would be enough to hit demand, he said: “I would be happy to pay £6 more to have a sustainable conscience if that amount was put to good use.”
“I understand the frustration from the market and the commercial side. But this is a tax [arising] from the climate crisis and it will go back into [sustainability projects],” he added.
He argued that tour operators could make the tax more understandable to their customers by tailoring their offers to the market, for example by offering “two days free” as part of a holiday package.
“You don’t have to apply the tax as an extra charge. There are commercial ways when it comes to pricing,” he said, adding that so far this year the levy has not affected tourist numbers.
For his part, easyJet Holidays chief executive Garry Wilson said that destinations support environmental taxes and are implementing them but this is followed by a call to show a direct link to sustainability projects to make increases in holiday costs more acceptable to customers.
