TOURISM/HOTEL AND RESORT INFRASTRUCTUREvideo.minpress.gr/ · tica, hotel arrivals for the year 2006...

about BRAND GREECE 25

TOURISM/HOTEL AND RESORTINFRASTRUCTURE

by Harry Coccossis

Managing Director of the Hellenic Tourist Properties

Sectoral overview

Culture, climate and natural heritage are at the heart of Greece’s com-petitiveness in terms of tourism.Tourism in Greece constitutes one of the fundamental pillars of thenational economy and an integral part of our culture. The financialsustainability and prosperity of several Greek regions depend to alarge extent on the tourism sector as it contributes to the local, re-gional and national economy and attracts new capital investments.

about BRAND GREECE26

BRAND GREECE

The total contribution (direct andindirect) of the travel and tourismindustry to the Greek economy in2006 was estimated to reach €37.2billion (or 16% of the total GDP),while it is expected that in the nextdecade it could almost double(WTTC, 2007). The dynamism of thesector is also evident in the growthin employment. In the last threeyears (2004-2006) some 200,000new jobs were created in the pri-vate sector, of which some 84,000(or almost 42% of all new jobs)were in tourism (NSSG1 estimates,2007).

One out of every five jobs is in thetourism sector. In terms of directand indirect employment, 867,000jobs can be attributed to tourism,representing almost 20% of the to-tal. Employment is expected to in-crease further, reaching 1.2 millionjobs in the next 10 years or so. New

capital investment in tourism isalso expected to double in the nextdecade or so, reaching €13 billion(WTTC, 2007).

Finally, tourism activity, as meas-ured in terms of arrivals, hasdemonstrated significant growth inthe last three years, reversing pasttrends. The positive effects of thepost-Olympics era are evident notonly in the established touristdestination areas of Crete, Rhodesand the other islands but also incities, especially Athens and its re-gion (Attica). In the Prefecture of At-tica, hotel arrivals for the year2006 saw growth of 9.8%. Fivestar-hotels witnessed arrivalsgrowth of 12.5%, while for four-starhotels the figure reached 17%.This shows a shift in demand to-wards more exclusive servicesand the increasing role of luxuryhotels.


TOURISM/HOTEL AND RESORT INFRASTRUCTURE

Tourism is estimated to grow in thenext decade at an average of closeto 4% annually (faster than the an-ticipated European average rateand close to the global one).

TOURISM POLICY Greece is upgrading its position as anestablished global tourism destina-tion after the successful organizationof the 2004 Olympic Games, reinforc-ing its positive image and reputationas a safe and ideal destination, re-defining its tourist policy, and seekinga new identity and brand.

The Greek Ministry of Tourism wasestablished in 2004 as the compe-tent authority for regulation, plan-ning and programming with severalexecuting agencies under its juris-diction: the Greek National TourismOrganization for promotion and li-censing of tourism enterprises, the

Tourism Development Companyfor managing tourist real estate, andthe Organization for Tourism Edu-cation and Training.

Tourism is considered a key sectorof the national sustainable devel-opment strategy with two majorgoals, to:

• Upgrade the quality of thetourist product and

• Broaden and enrich the product.

The means to achieve these goalscomprises regulation (and control),incentives, physical interventionsand promotion.

In order to upgrade the quality ofthe tourist product, the Govern-ment encourages high-quality in-vestments by creating new hotelunits and resorts and improvingthe existing basic technical infra-


BRAND GREECE

structure (airports, ports, roads,etc). To this end, the InvestmentLaw is a very useful tool for qualityupgrading, as it provides incen-tives (grants, etc) to the privatesector for developing and amelio-rating tourist accommodation andservices. It also supports a broadrange of investment schemes (in-cluding special tourist infrastruc-ture such as golf courses, marinas,convention centers, thematicparks, sports centers etc). Thereare also planning provisions for thewithdrawal of old hotel units. In ad-dition to the above, the establish-ment of a “one-stop” shop and thesimplification of administrativeprocedures for investment ap-proval encourage potential in-vestors to successfully developtheir visions. Public-Private Part-nerships are also expected to ac-celerate processes and attracthigh-quality investments.

To achieve broadening and enrich-ment of the tourist product a series

of measures have been taken to dif-ferentiate the product and extendthe seasonality of Greek tourismthrough the provision and develop-ment of activities throughout theyear encouraging the developmentof special forms of tourism: spa-wellness-health; nature-eco-rural;cultural-conference-exhibitions-citybreak; sea-yachting, along withsports tourism, urban tourism andgastronomy.

At present, Greece is preparing aspatial master plan for tourism toguide investment decisions andprovide specifications for the typeand intensity of tourist develop-ment in tourist areas.

The marketing strategy for Greektourism was redesigned, througha new promotion campaign (morethan 60 million euros) aiming tostrengthen the market share ofGreece in traditional source mar-kets but also to open up to newemerging markets.



GENERAL INFRASTRUCTURESUPPORTING TOURISMDuring the past few decades, thetransportation network of the coun-try has been modernized and up-graded. As a result, Greece todayhas an efficient transportation sys-tem, which supports fast and safetravel all over the country. New in-frastructure projects are also in thepipeline and new connectingroutes are being introduced to fa-cilitate inter-regional and intra-re-gional mobility (passengers, vehi-cles, boats etc), opening up new ar-eas and extending the benefits oftourism to the hinterland.

The new Rio-Antirrio bridge, thelongest cable-stayed suspensionbridge in Europe, is a technicaland transportation miraclewhich connects the Western Pelo-ponnese with Central-WesternGreece. In addition, the develop-ment of a western (north-south)axis is likely to encourage private in-vestments and the development of

tourism. In the north, the EgnatiaHighway (an east-west axis), with atotal length of 670km, will strength-en tourism in the northern regions,while interventions for upgradingthe main central “spine” road axisconnecting the largest cities ofAthens, Patra and Thessalonikihave dramatically improved generalnorth-south movements.

Greece is to a large extent charac-terized by its islands, so sea trans-port is essential. A program of re-development of ports is underwaywhich will be to the benefit oftourism. New types of sea trans-port services (fast large vessels butalso smaller hydrofoil-type ones)have led to a reorganization oftourism flows, improving accessi-bility to established tourism des-tinations and opening up smallerislands to tourism. Finally, the airports of the countryhave also been radically modern-ized. There are in total 44 airports op-erating in Greece, 15 of which have


BRAND GREECE

international connections, whilethe rest handle domestic flights. Anew airport is to be developed toserve the “number one” tourismdestination (Crete). The improve-ment of two regional airports is ex-pected to open up new opportuni-ties for tourism on the mainland. Ac-cording to the National StatisticsService, 85% of foreign tourist ar-rivals come by air. Consequently, re-inforcing the peripheral airports inorder to handle international flightsand giving emphasis to the intercon-nection between domestic destina-tions (especially on the islands) is anessential measure. In 2006, a newairport was inaugurated (in full op-eration) on the island of Kalymnosin the Dodecanese.In parallel, substantial moderniza-tion of the main axis of the railroadservice is ongoing as existing linesare being upgraded, facilitating in-ter-city transport on the mainland.

Furthermore, the run-up to theAthens Olympic Games 2004 wit-nessed a series of large-scale infra-

structure upgrades and improve-ments in the quality of service andthe quality of life in Athens, whichhas been attracting a growing num-ber of conferences and exhibitions.The construction and operation ofthe new modern Athens “Elefthe-rios Venizelos” Airport, in Spata, At-tica, was an important milestone inthe improvement of air travel to thecountry. A new peripheral ring road(Attiki Odos), the construction of asecond Metro line and the newtramway service, as well as thedevelopment of a suburban railwayservice (Proasteiakos), have radical-ly changed the transportation net-work and upgraded mobility withinthe metropolitan area. Service lev-els of the existing mass transportsystems were considerably im-proved through the renewal of thebus and trolley-bus fleets and theoverhauling of the Athens-Piraeusold subway stations.

If one considers also the new ath-letic infrastructure which was devel-oped and the numerous private in-



vestments in upgrading hotels andservices, it is easy to understandhow Athens is gradually becomingestablished as a European regionalcity break destination. In the post-Olympics era similar large-scaleinfrastructure improvements areunderway in the second-largestcity, Thessaloniki (new peripheralroad, Metro, etc).

It is evident that large-scale infra-structure development in the contextof urban improvement programs, ifproperly planned, can benefit bothtourism and local communities.

TOURIST ACCOMMODATIONAND INFRASTRUCTUREOverall, tourist infrastructure inGreece can be distinguished interms of accommodation, whichhas undergone substantial improve-ment, and special tourist infrastruc-ture, including tourist facilities forspecial purpose tourism (yachtingharbors, ski resorts, conventionand exhibition centers etc).

Tourist accommodation is basicallydivided among hotels, accountingin 2006 for 682,050 beds (in9,036 hotels), 31,274 camping


BRAND GREECE

places (at 346 camp sites) andover 450,000 beds in rental rooms(mostly on the islands).

Hotels

The distribution of hotel units amongthe Greek regions is as follows: Morethan half of the hotels are on the is-lands (Northern Aegean, Cyclades,Dodecanese, Ionian and Crete) whileon the mainland these are mostlyconcentrated in the regions of Athensand Thessaloniki. In terms of beds,the distribution among regions ismore or less the same.The spatial distribution of hotels,with the islands possessing themajority of units, represents thecomparative advantages of Greekregions in terms of the traditionaltourist product of the country: seaand sun, mostly mass tourism.There have recently been slightchanges in these patterns as a con-sequence of infrastructure im-provements, promotion, as well asbroader structural changes interms of tourist demand, differen-tiating the tourist product. So,

there is important intra-regionaldifferentiation as tourism flowsspread to hinterland areas or sur-rounding smaller islands, diffusingthe benefits of tourism. Tourismpolicy encourages such differenti-ation of the product, promotingnew types of tourism. Such apolicy can also contribute to thedecongestion of establishedtourist destinations.

Intensifying competition in globaltourism, accompanied with qual-itative restructuring of demandand changing spatial patterns(and increasing spatial competi-tion among destinations), is push-ing supply to adjust as well interms of the structure of the ac-commodation offered. New hotelunits tend to be concentrated inthe upper categories in the regionswith competitive advantage, whilein other regions (emerging as des-tinations) most new hotels areconcentrated in the mid-level cat-egory, an upgrade essentially fromthe traditional emphasis on rooms-to-let. This tendency is encouraged

ΗOTEL DISTRIBUTION

Source: Greek Hotel Chamber, 2005



by the means of policy measuresto upgrade hotel accommodationthrough incentives for new hoteldevelopment but also for redevel-opment and renewal of existingunits, financed partly through theInvestment Law.2

By the end of 2006, 638 tourism in-vestment initiatives had been ap-proved by the Investment Law (ap-proximately €1 billion). Further-more, the “Program on Competitive-ness of the Third Community Sup-port Framework” (2000-6 EU fundsfor regional development) placedemphasis on significant improve-ments, renovation, and extensionsof existing infrastructure, whichcontributed significantly to the up-grading of the quality of the tourismproduct. One of the most interestingaspects of the new investments inhotels is the predominance of es-tablished tourist destination areas(Crete, Rhodes, Kos etc) in attractingnew development but also thestructural changes in product devel-opment: a fast-growing number of

resorts, meaning large-scale inte-grated tourist developments withspecial tourist installations (spas,conference facilities etc).

Camping sites

Camping in Greece is distributedamong the Greek regions in a differ-ent manner to the general tourist de-mand. The camping distribution ispresented in the above diagram:The chart shows that the distribu-tion of camp sites is concentratedin mainland areas as on the islandsit is mostly rental rooms whichcover similar needs. Certain regions(Macedonia in the north of Greeceand Peloponnese in the south, forexample) demonstrate a higherconcentration of camp sites. Al-though in the past camping facili-ties were mostly favored by low-budget travelers, it seems that themarket is changing as this kind ofholiday is now often chosen bytravelers who want mobility andhave a certain “philosophy” abouttheir vacations (i.e. close to nature,

CAMPING DISTRIBUTION

Source: Greek Association of Camping


BRAND GREECE

more informal) but who also de-mand high-quality services and in-frastructure. In order to be consis-tent with this new tendency, the ex-isting legal framework has beenmodernized to include camp sitesas eligible for incentives and thegeneral regulatory framework hasbeen adapted to provide modernstandards and technical specifi-cations for camping facilities. Atpresent, a classification system isbeing introduced to organize (andmonitor) camp sites according totheir range of services and thequality of their infrastructure.

Rental rooms

Rental rooms constitute a significantpart of tourism accommodation in-frastructure in Greece. They are an in-tegral part of the traditional charac-teristics of Greek culture: hospitalityand family focus, as reflected inGreek tourism. For some regions,which are remote or with otherwiselimited opportunities for employ-ment and income, such as small is-lands and mountain communities,this type of accommodation is an im-

portant source to contribute to com-plementary income. Although rentalrooms provide low-cost basic accom-modation (bed-and-breakfast type),it is crucial to underline that funda-mental measures have been takento guarantee the quality of servicesthey provide. Quality in tourismservices is becoming increasingly im-portant in international and do-mestic tourism, even in emergingdestinations, which may offer low-priced products.

The distribution of rooms to let isskewed, with high concentrationsin certain areas. Island regions ac-count for about half, mostly in theIonian Islands but also in two main-land regions: Central Macedonia(mainly on the Halkidiki peninsula)and Western Greece (the westernpart of the Peloponnese). The aver-age size of business enterprises isvery small in this category.

Greece is characterized by richnessand diversity in terms of its naturaland cultural heritage. This, plus the

Special tourism infrastructure and new types of tourism

DISTRIBUTION OF RENTAL ROOMS

Source: Greek Confederation of Rent-rooms



fragmentation of geographic spaceon small islands, small valleys andmountains and a varied coastlineprovide great diversity and offerunique opportunities for the devel-opment of special types of tourism.Greece has an explicit policy to takeadvantage of the untapped poten-tial of the Greek tourist product,which extends beyond the sea-sun formula. The development ofspecial types of tourism can caterto the special needs of modern in-ternational tourism and also pro-vides a valuable contribution to theregional and local economy as wellas contributing to alleviating sea-sonality peaks.

Nature - eco tourism - adventuresin nature - hiking A diversified landscape, highlymountainous with almost 3,000islands and islets, provides unique

opportunities for walks and activi-ties in nature, much demanded bythe modern traveler. Greece offerssignificant opportunities for such ac-tivities throughout the country. Thisis evidenced by the proliferation ofinitiatives in the last decade or soto explore such opportunitiesthrough the development of loca-tions for rafting, canoe-kayak, hik-ing and so on.

Greece is blessed with a rich nat-ural environment as well. Over250 sites, of which 193 are charac-terized by EU standards as Natura2000 sites (that is, areas of specialecological value), provide signifi-cant opportunities for educationbut also allow visitors to get closeto nature. Gradually these sites ac-quire management regimes, whichallow for the development of eco-tourism activities.


BRAND GREECE

Sea tourism and yachtingGreece is a yachting paradise withover 15,000km of coastline and3,000 islands. The yachting sectorhas also changed significantlyover the last decade as the numberof yachts has increased dramatical-ly. Although the number of marinasand yacht harbors is still relativelysmall as compared to the country’spotential, yachting represents asignificant part of the tourist prod-uct, as many coves, smaller portsand fishing harbors offer shelterand basic services for boating.

There are 20 marinas and yachtharbors in operation, with a totalcapacity of 6,500 berths and an al-most equal number currently un-der construction, but there is an ev-ident demand for the developmentof many more.

Conference-exhibition facilitiesand MICE tourismThe development of the MICE(Meetings, Incentives, Confer-ences and Exhibitions) industryworldwide and the positive imageof Greece as a safe and moderndestination following the success-ful organization of the 2004Olympic Games are major factorsbehind growth in conference andexhibition tourism in Greece.

Currently, there are 74 venues inthe country and 446 hotels withconference facilities. One of theOlympic athletic venues (an en-closed stadium on the coast ofAthens) is going to be developedinto a major conference centeras an international competition isunderway towards that end.Across the rest of the country



however, and especially in theestablished tourism resort areas(Rhodes and Crete as well asThessaloniki) there is a growingdemand for conferences and exhi-bitions and a substantial need forrelevant infrastructure such asconference halls and exhibitionspaces.

GolfGolf comprises a new type of tourismfor which Greece offers several ad-

vantages (very good-quality hotels,safety and security, life-style and anexcellent climate for year-round golf-ing). There is increasing competitionin the wider region (Mediterranean)to attract golfers and develop golfcourses. Often a major driving forcebehind such development is real es-tate prospects associated with golf.

In Greece, there are five golf cours-es which meet international stan-dards (18 holes), and a smaller one


BRAND GREECE

of nine holes. On the basis of ap-proved investment projects thesecan easily double in the next fiveyears while several other invest-ments planned can easily triple thenumber of available courses.

Spa - thalassotherapy - wellnessHealth and wellness tourism hasrecently started to gain a growingshare of the travel industry. Peoplenow, more than ever, are seekingexperiences that will make themfeel healthier. Greece has a fewhundred natural thermal springswith curative qualities. Out ofthese, 20 are in commercial oper-ation, some in combination withhotel facilities and several othersare under exploitation. A new lawhas recently been passed whichmodernizes the institutional statusand context of thermal springs,thus simplifying procedures. Fur-thermore, the Investment Law pro-vides incentives for the establish-ment, development and modern-ization of special types of tourisminfrastructure (including healthtourism centers, spas and thalas-sotherapy centers).

SkiingAlthough Greece has a temperate cli-mate, there are 19 ski resorts oper-ating in several regions of the main-land with high-quality infrastructure.

SOME FINAL COMMENTSGlobal tourism is changing in manyways: a growing demand for high-quality services, safety concerns,development of niche markets, e-tourism, low-cost carriers, the emer-gence of new source markets andnew destinations, shifting spatialflows, increasing competition etc.

Greece is an established touristdestination with strong competitiveadvantages. Its image has beenboosted substantially in the lastfew years. Several courses of actionare being taken to improve thequality of the tourist product andstrengthen its competitive position.Hospitality, climate, culture and tra-dition, natural beauty, gastronomy,good-quality hotels and servicesaccount for much of its strength asa tourism destination and a placefor investments in tourism.

1 General Secretariat of National Statistical Service of Greece

2 Investment Law: 3299/2004 and oper-ational program “Competitiveness” partof 3rd Community Support Framework.

USEFUL LINKSMinistry of Tourismwww.mintour.gr

Greek National Tourism Organizationwww.eot.gr

Hellenic Chamber of Hotelswww.grhotels.gr

TOURISM/HOTEL AND RESORT INFRASTRUCTUREvideo.minpress.gr/ · tica, hotel arrivals for the year 2006...

Documents

Transcript of TOURISM/HOTEL AND RESORT INFRASTRUCTUREvideo.minpress.gr/ · tica, hotel arrivals for the year 2006...