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Major foreign travel agencies insist on introducing a "drachma" clause in the contracts they will sign with Greek hoteliers for the season 2016.

The pressure on the part of the representatives of foreign companies is reminiscent of the steps they had taken with regard to the hoteliers in the same period of 2012. The continued political and economic uncertainty at that time combined with the elections that took place twice had provoked scenarios about Greece exiting the euro zone. As a result, the representatives of foreign travel agencies were pushing for the introduction of a "drachma" clause at the signing of contracts. Now, under the pretext that there is uncertainty due to the delays in concluding an agreement with the creditors, they again want to play safe in the event that Greece returns to its national currency.

In other cases, foreigners agree to sign contracts without a "drachma" clause but want the Greek hoteliers to cover all the costs that may arise from the entry of a foreign currency into the country or the costs due to the imposition of new taxes. In turn, the hoteliers who had already begun to sign contracts for next season at this time in previous years cannot start the procedure this year because they do not know what VAT rates will be in force for the Greek tourism package in 2016. In a statement, the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises recommends that the hoteliers delay the signing of contracts until a final agreement between the Greek government and its creditors is reached. Moreover, Greek tourism companies now have fewer trump cards in the negotiations with foreigners upon signing the contracts compared to previous years due to another reason, namely that of covering their financial obligations, they directly depend on the advance and regular payments by foreign companies since the local market lacks liquidity and access to financial resources.

Tourism bank

To overcome the funding and liquidity problems, the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises has included in its institutional demands the establishment of a tourism bank with a special investment purpose, similar to the Austrian Τourismus Bank that was founded in 1947 with the support of the Austrian government as a bank with a special investment purpose. According to the proposal, the tourism bank may be a subsidiary of the four major Greek banks, possibly with the participation of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises but also with a small share of the Austrian Τourismus Bank, which will be a consultant.

The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises believes that the total investment (public and private) in the tourism sector in the period 2015-2018 should amount to around 11.5 billion euro. The provision of public funds from the National Strategic Reference Framework totalling 3 billion euro can support them as well. Moreover, the Association believes that the new law on growth can act as a catalyst for private investment to improve accommodation facilities by providing 2 billion euro, which will lead to involvement of private entrepreneurs with the amount of 8 billion euro.