Greek Parliament approves new cruise visitor levies to fund natural disaster recovery

The Greek parliament on Wednesday approved a bill increasing a daily tax on short-term rental and hotel accommodation and charging cruise ship visitors a levy to cope with the impact of natural disasters on its economy.

Greece is facing an increased number of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts and forest-fires, which strain its public finances. Tourism is the main driver of its economy, which emerged from a debt crisis in 2018.

"We aim to collect 400 million euros annually, almost double the amount we got last year," a senior finance ministry official told Reuters.

The bill raises a daily tax on hotel accommodation by up to 15 euros in the summer months, depending on the hotel's star rating. It also imposes a 20-euro levy on cruise ship arrivals to the popular islands of Santorini and Mykonos and a five-euro levy to other destinations.

In 2023, the government submitted a 600-million-euro supplementary budget to compensate households and businesses and to restore damage caused by deadly storm Daniel on rail and road infrastructure.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas. Editing by Gareth Jones)