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Hotel operators in Greece faced with a hike in VAT are demanding a crackdown on hospitality businesses that avoid tax by marketing through sharing websites such as Airbnb.
The rise in VAT on restaurants and hotels to 13% came in on October 1 as part of the country’s attempts to deal with its huge debt.
Greek Tourism Confederation SETE has urged hoteliers to absorb the tax rise rather than increase prices, but is seeking government action against rental-property owners who fail to pay tax.
It also wants help for hoteliers to allow them to invest in their properties either through other tax breaks or an easing of regulatory restrictions on expansion.
Speaking ahead of next week’s Travel Convention in Costa Navarino, Greece, SETE chairman Dr Andreas Andreadis said: “We have to overcome the VAT issue. It would be a strategic mistake to pass the rise on to the customer.”
Andreadis said SETE had brought in accountancy firm KPMG to identify property owners on Airbnb who were likely to be operating illegally by not paying tax.
“The key is to force everyone to comply with tax rules,” he said.
At last year’s Travel Convention, Abta chairman Noel Josephides used his closing address to take a swipe at the “sharing economy”.
He said this “online revolution” would not leave any business model in travel unchanged.
“This is the rise of what we call the sharing economy – another name for the growth of the black economy, but presented in a clever and sympathetic way,” he said.
He said the likes of Airbnb had provided a platform that allowed the black market to grow.