The Greece government is planning to levy heavier taxes on tourists from next year to increase revenues from tourism. As reported by several Greek media agencies, the new taxes to be imposed include new daily charges for accommodations, city taxes, and fees for cruise ship passengers. Schengen News claims that it will cost more to visit Greece with the application of the new rules.
Higher Daily Taxes for Tourists
Starting in 2025, tourist taxes will leap from €0.50 to €2 per day on holidays, with the rates soaring to €8 during peak tourist demand from April to October. Currently, high-season visitors pay €1.50 per day. Those staying in luxury hotels could be charged as much as €15 per day for the tax; lower-rated hotels will incur much lower fees.
Cruise Ship Taxes to Rise Significantly
In 2025, the cruise tourism segment, which is projected to grow beyond eight million visitors, will also have increased rates. Cruise passengers would be required to pay a maximum charge of €20 -depending on the specific destination. Higher charges will be levied on destinations to popular islands such as Santorini and Mykonos, while other destinations including Athens and Crete would charge €5 daily.
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The rising cruise taxes come following complaints on very small islands such as Mykonos, where infrastructure creates problems in receiving many people. On very few days in the summer of 2023, Mykonos, which is barely populated by 12,000 residents, stood as “host” to as many as 20,000 cruise passengers. Santorini is said to have recorded daily arrival figures of 17,000 at the peak time when only 15,500 residents were counted in the locality.
Supporting Tourism Infrastructure
This is the aim of the government, investing approximately €400 million every year from these taxes and almost doubling what it raised last year to put it into improving tourism infrastructure. It is an initiative aligned with attempts to lessen the effects of disasters, particularly those like those faced in the country very often in the form of wildfires or floods.
This figure is essentially one of the key pillars of an economy that is Greece’s stimulus for recovery after the 2018 debt crisis. The latest figures, according to the Bank of Greece, indicated that 24.89 million international visitors came this way from January to August 2024, resulting in revenues of about €15 billion. Tourists are largely from countries such as France, Spain, the United States, Italy, and Türkiye.
By implementing these measures, Greece aims to improve its tourism experience while ensuring the mitigation of pressures from increased tourist numbers and other environmental risks.