Reporting performance Margarita Manousou
Restarting Tourism pending the formulation of common EU protocols
THE APPLICATION OF COMMON RULES FOR SAFE TRAVEL & ACCOMMODATION
During this period, the first priority of all in terms of tourism activity is the safety of visitors, employees and citizens of the communities in which any tourist activity will take place.
Their safety is vital, new additional preventive measures must be introduced and adopted to ensure and certify the health security that will be provided to citizens. Safety and hygiene in the workplace for employees and customers.
The Minister of Tourism, Mr. Harris Theocharis, at the teleconference of EU tourism ministers, noted that there is an immediate need to develop and implement a single European strategy for the revival of demand and the restart of the tourism industry, which concerns 10% of European GDP and a corresponding number of jobs.
Essentials are considered:
– Implement uniform rules for the resumption of air, sea and road transport to ensure the safe and seamless movement of EU travellers
– Establishing common protocols for airport, hotels, public transport, catering, etc.
– Creation of a European Tourism Recovery Fund at European level
– Provide flexible financial instruments both for the short-term response to the crisis (airline compensation vouchers, labour support, demand support, etc.) and for the long-term response to the crisis.
– In this context, Mr. Theocharis noted that it would be useful to have a new NSRF (Partnership Agreement for Development Framework) with corresponding operational programmes for tourism.
Many of the Greek minister’s proposals were well received by his European counterparts. Pending announcements from the European Commissioner Mr. Thierry Breton on the next steps for the EU’s response to the crisis.
Our country co-signed with eight other partner countries (Spain, France, Romania, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain, France, Romania, Malta, Cyprus and Portugal) a common position promoted by Spain, which, among other things, stresses the urgency for the European Union to support, through the European Commission’s SURE programme and through the Pan-European Guarantee Fund created by the European Investment Bank, the strategy of maintaining productive structures and employment in the tourism industry throughout the crisis.
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GREEK CHAMBER OF HOTELS, MR. ALEXANDER BASILIKOS, IN ANTICIPATION OF THE REOPENING OF THE HOTELS
In a recent statement, the president of the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Alexandros Vassilikos clarifies the picture of waiting for the hotels to reopen. As Mr. Vassilikos, in the phase of restarting the country’s economy and society, in the great collective effort, Greek hoteliers have a leading role to play.
On the one hand to clarify the environment in which hoteliers will be called upon to make critical business decisions and on the other hand to allow reasonable time to prepare hotels and train staff on the health protocols that will be implemented for the safety of visitors, employees and local communities.
At the same time, it highlights the need for bold measures to support Greek tourism. In this direction, there is continuous cooperation with both the Ministry of Tourism and with all stakeholders.
What is needed is to build on solid foundations the necessary bridge of hope, with liquidity for businesses, subsidies for labour and improved competitiveness for the product, so that hoteliers can be at the forefront of the efforts to lift Greek tourism and Greek economy!
SETE & THE 13 NATIONAL MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS, IN A JOINT LETTER TO MR. MITSOTAKIS, SET THE FRAMEWORK FOR THE RE-LAUNCH OF TOURISM WITH REALISM & RELIABILITY
SETE’s letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with notification to Mr. Gregory Demetriades, Secretary General to the Prime Minister – Christos Staikouras, Minister of Finance – Yannis Vroutsis, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs – Harris Theocharis, Minister of Tourism – Akis Skertzos, Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister
In this letter, which was signed by all 13 national associations, members of SETE, representing all sectors of tourism, the President of SETE, Mr. Yannis Retsos, welcomes the continuation of the great effort made by the government and society to preserve the health acquis. The data of the coming weeks will of course ultimately determine the process of restarting the economy, and therefore tourism.
As Mr. Retsos, at the joint meeting held by SETE, the conviction and will to move in a framework of realism and credibility was expressed, by first of all raising the most essential issues that concern the sector horizontally.
The individual issues and requests of each sector will be submitted to the relevant ministries and SETE will assist where necessary. So with a view to the resumption of tourism operations in early June, if this is made possible by the health data, which is what everyone hopes and hopes, he notes that the following four issues must be clarified:
1. Sanitary operation protocols: Already mentioned in a previous communication, tourism/transport will not be able to function without common European protocols for sanitary controlled movements.
As it seems that joint European action is being delayed, transnational agreements seem to be more likely. There must be national health protocols for all tourism businesses within May.
These protocols must be realistic and sustainable, always within the health commitments, and must be implementable by small businesses, which constitute the majority of the tourism sector in Greece.
Besides, the Ministry of Tourism and the EODY have already been informed that by 11.05.20 SETE will deliver a comprehensive plan for processing in order to make everything in time.
2. Labour and worker subsidy programmes, at least for the whole of 2020: in the context of the logic of burden sharing, in order to maintain jobs in a near-zero revenue environment for an indefinite period of time, an immediate employment subsidy programme should emerge, sharing the labour costs between the company, the state and the worker, in a fair manner and according to the strengths, needs and capabilities of the parties.
Similar programmes are already in place in many European countries. Moreover, it should be taken into account that since many of the seasonal businesses will not be able to operate this year, a large part of the approximately 700,000 tourism workers (Q3 2019 data) will remain unemployed. So we need a safety net and an expansion of the unemployment fund, but also an incentive for businesses to operate, even for a small part of the season, in order to stem the tide of unemployment.
3.Reduction of VAT from 01.06.20 and for as long as it takes to recover the lost ground: accommodation at 6%, all catering at 13%, tourist package services at 13%, domestic transport at 13% and marine tourism at 13%.
The letter notes that although the difficulty of the fiscal exercise is understandable, it is considered that especially for 2021 and if the pandemic has been medically treated internationally, competitive VAT rates will allow to claim market share from competitors who in the management of the pandemic lagged far behind Greece, but will return strong and with much lower rates, with all that this implies for price competitiveness.
4.Non-payment of advance income tax for 2020. The measure has no fiscal impact and besides, in 2021 with all companies loss-making, the advance-loss offset will be compulsory. So, immediate implementation will boost the liquidity of businesses now, when they need it most.
Concluding the letter, Mr. Yannis Retsos, as President of SETE, and the Presidents of the 13 associations that co-signed it, warmly thank the Prime Minister and those responsible for the actions taken so far, looking forward to their response so that tourism continues to support society, the economy and the country.
Yannis Retsos SETE, Eftihios Vassilakis Aegean Airlines, Grigoris Tasios POX, Lysander Tsilidis HATTA, Panagiotis Tokouzis SETKE, Aris Marinis GEPOET, Michalis Sakellis SEEN, Antonis Stelliatos EPEST, Angelos Karakostas ELIME, Joseph Mastorantonakis EEAE, Stavros Katsikadis EMAE, Dimitris Maggioros STEIEAE, Rena Toli HAPCO, Michael Flerianos SAE, Stefanos Sidiropoulos SETEYDA
THE PRESIDENT OF THE HOTELS OF RETHYMNON CRETAN, MR. MANOLIS TSAKALAKIS IS CONCERNED ABOUT LIABILITY ISSUES AND HYGIENE PROTOCOLS IN HOTELS
Civil liability towards hotel customers
Ο κ. Tsakalakis stresses that the first issue that needs to be resolved is that of civil liability in case one of the guests of a hotel either becomes infected at the destination or comes infected and infects others. He notes, of course, that in no case does business take precedence over human life and the health of customers, the staff who will work, their families and the entire Greek local community. Another important issue mentioned by Mr. Tsakalakis refers to the possibility that a customer in case he gets coronavirus, to take legal action against the hotel unit,.
Mr. Tsakalakis cites a client of his company’s hotels who, in the past, for a simple case of gastroenteritis, took the company to court for three years and sought damages of between £15,000 and £20,000.
It notes that currently no insurance company will take out hotel insurance for coronavirus.
The health protocols
The second major issue of concern to hoteliers today is health protocols. According to the World Health Organisation, there are some guidelines but the EU’s position needs to be clarified. If Greek protocols are announced, they may be protocols that are not shared by the people who want to come on holiday. They may find them particularly lax or particularly strict towards their countries or other competitors and therefore may not choose Greece for their holidays.
Dining and hotels
According to Mr. Tsakalakis, another important issue that worries hoteliers, concerns the hotel catering areas. State measures for the operation of food service establishments require that tables be spaced apart and serve up to 4 people each. The president of Rethymno hoteliers, reminds that most hotels of 12 months operation in Greece do not have outdoor areas. At the same time, he wonders how to serve it. Everyone knows that the prevailing system is the buffet where the customer chooses what to have for their meal. If buffets are not allowed to operate, should the food be served on a foil plate or should they serve packets? There are many key questions whose answers are not known to hoteliers today. Should they be served by waiters with a mask, gloves and a special uniform? There is also the possibility of breakfast in the room which would require more room service staff.
Concluding his statement, Mr. Tsakalakis reminds that the coronavirus may have caused the need to observe safety rules for distances and hygiene, but hotels have been built as leisure facilities and not as hospitals or prisons. Customer policing is neither appropriate nor easy in the hotel environment.
