Ο Greek tourism reached its peak in 2019. We certainly did not «hit a ceiling», but everything at the time looked favourable for further growth.
But for this growth to come, Greece will have to make radical changes in the sector that has always suffered: On infrastructure. And the fact is that the country was late in building ports and airports of international standards, as well as a passable road network.
There are, of course, individual projects, which are still in their infancy, so much so that at the moment we are forced to compare ourselves with Turkey and North African countries and not with the advanced countries of the West, as we should.
Greece must upgrade its tourism product, both through the significant investments it has recently made in the hotel sector, and by strengthening a medium and long-term strategy with new development tools.
According to the new study by the Institute of the Hellenic Tourism Business Association (INSETE), the improvement of the international competitiveness of Greek tourism goes through large and small investments in public infrastructure. It is worth noting that the World Economic Forum's 2019 ranking of the competitiveness of the economy on the infrastructure dimension, has Greece in 37th place and lags significantly behind competing countries in tourism (for example: Spain 7th, Italy 18th, Portugal 21st).
Moreover, tourism is one of the few sectors in which Greece is a global leader, as Greece's tourism product is the 5th most important in the world and our country's international competitiveness in the tourism sector (25th) clearly exceeds its international competitiveness in terms of its economy as a whole (59th), while it has been the mound of the Greek economy and society during the economic crisis.
According to the updated study by INSETE, to recover the economy, infrastructure improvements are needed. Given that the highly successful 2019 was followed by the problematic - due to the pandemic - 2020, the recovery of tourism is postponed to a medium-term horizon of 3-4 years, in which Greece needs to improve a high level of competitiveness that he has anyway.
This assumes that the whole spectrum of the value of the «tourism ecosystem», it must maintain a high level of experience while preparing for the threats posed by climate change.
Demand for summer holidays may be negatively affected, as summers in the Mediterranean may become too hot for many visitors. On the other hand, conditions may improve in the months outside the summer peak, thus facilitating mitigation of seasonality and highlighting new tourist destinations.
The new study-proposal of INSETE is directly linked to urgent needs for improvement in «traditional» public infrastructure such as airports, ports, marinas, roads, water supply, sewerage and waste management systems, public transport, MICE infrastructure, etc. Thematic categories of public infrastructure are not included, such as digital technology infrastructure, energy efficiency upgrading of buildings, energy infrastructure, etc.
The proposed projects cover all the regions of the country, depending on their needs. The list of projects includes public investments related to:
- Airports: Necessary infrastructure upgrades, expansions and modernisation
- Ports and marinas: Upgrading of tourist ports, port development, expansion and upgrading of port infrastructure and marinas, network of tourist ports, etc.
- Targeted interventions/extensions of the road network and road signage and safety projects
- Transport interconnection projects: e.g. interconnection of Thessaloniki airport with Thessaloniki metro, interconnection of Athens airport with the port of Lavrio, etc.
- Public utility projects such as water supply adequacy, liquid and solid waste management, beachfront redevelopment and protection, coastal protection from erosion, flood protection, undergrounding of cables, first of all in traditional settlements
- Experience enhancement projects such as the creation of a network of trails, walking and cycling routes, and improvements to archaeological sites and cultural attractions.
The «iconic-peak» projects
In addition to the new projects that have been launched (Hellenikon, new airport of Crete, Patras - Pyrgos motorways, northern section of E65, BOAK etc.), the most important, new projects that have been identified through the evaluation in the study are as follows:
– Metropolitan Conference Centre in Athens for the development of large-scale conference tourism and the establishment of Greece as a major international conference destination.
– Coastal front of Athens: redevelopment of Attica's coastal front, in order to improve the image of the destination and enrich the tourist product of Athens, allowing for an increase in the length of stay of tourists and their spending.
– Upgrading customs stations at the borders with Balkan countries to facilitate the entry of tourists and improve the country's image.
– Transforming Rhodes into a sustainable destination, in combination with the improvement of the road network, in order to meet the needs of the modern market and to become a model for the rest of Greece. This project has a long-term horizon and requires the design and implementation of a demanding operational programme and includes, for example, waste management, energy footprint reduction, electrification of public transport, energy saving, etc.
– Improving road signage, in order to facilitate travellers-tourists with the ultimate aim of reducing seasonality and increasing tourist flows to less crowded areas.
– Tourist bus parking in Athens, in order to relieve traffic congestion during peak periods.
– TIF redevelopment for the promotion of MICE in the city of Thessaloniki and the enrichment of the city break activities offered by the city.
- To existing Heraklion airport needs a complete renovation to properly serve the many visitors to Crete, until the completion of the new airport in Kastelli.
– Coastal protection from erosion
– Construction of a new port in Santorini
As emphasized in the recent «Development Plan for the Greek Economy» (Pissarides Report): «The enrichment and upgrading of the Greek tourism product requires coordinated actions by private and public entities. A set of actions concerns the strengthening of infrastructure, mainly in transport, but also in energy, water supply, waste management, etc. The strengthening of infrastructure can make a significant contribution to the development prospects of the tourism sector and to the quality of life of the local population.
