Six objectives set for the Tourism Ministry

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis presented six objectives for the year’s first half to Tourism Minister Haris Theocharis at a meeting on Wednesday at the PM’s office.

The first objective is the creation of a new legislative framework with the immediate implementation of reforms for utilizing, enhancing and promoting special forms of tourism. Another concerns a legislative framework for the creation of a tourism management entity for the Cycladic island of Santorini.

Theocharis was also asked to strengthen maritime tourism, with an emphasis on simplifying the layout and licensing of tourism ports, and to improve legislation for the upgrading and modernization of professional tourism training through pioneering reforms.

Mitsotakis further called on his minister to draft a National Strategic Plan for Tourism Development for 2021 to 2030 for the improvement and further bolstering of the competitiveness of the country’s tourism product. The final goal concerns the creation of a new regulatory framework regarding short-term property rentals through online platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com, aimed at tourism development as well as the safeguarding of social cohesion.

Views at the meeting converged on reserved optimism regarding the prospects of Greek tourism in 2020.