During the webinar which was organised by the National Transparency Authority (NTA) on the occasion of the forthcoming opening of the tourism season, more than 400 professionals from the public and private sectors had the opportunity to participate live and be informed about the implementation of pandemic measures in tourist accommodation, the procedures to ensure a smooth tourist season, as well as the role and contribution of the National Transparency Authority in ensuring healthy competition and public health.
In the discussion, participated the General Secretary of Tourism Policy and Development, Mrs. Vicky Loizou, who spoke about the significant work of the Ministry of Tourism and all the stakeholders involved in ensuring a smooth tourist season, mentioning that the Ministry works both at international and domestic levels to start the new season safely, as well as to adopt the Green Certificate, emphasizing that "it is important to combine tourism, which means carefreeness, with rules, so that both visitors feel safe and businesses feel they can open under the right conditions".
The Governor of the National Transparency Authority, Mr. Angelos Binis, referred to the role and contribution of the NTA in monitoring the implementation of operational protocols for tourist accommodation, as well as the experience gained by the National Transparency Authority as an audit mechanism in 2020 and the challenges for 2021, noting that "the Authority believes that the informative and advisory nature of the inspections is crucial both for the protection of the tourist product and for the safety of workers in the tourism sector".
The President of the Hellenic Hotel Chamber, Mr. Alexandros Vasilikos, who assessed the year 2020 and spoke about the challenges of 2021, stated that "there were no ready-made protocols in the drawers, we created them from scratch in a few days, allowing easy access and information to each accommodation through technology", while the President of the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation, Mr. Grigoris Tassios, spoke about the challenges of survival for tourist accommodation, stating that "we are building resilience and hope to increase occupancy rates from July onwards. We need targeted and structured information and this is where the N.T.A. can play a role". He expressed his concern about the audit of short-term and undeclared accommodation and stressed the need for specific information to clarify the operating conditions and obligations of tourism businesses”.
The President of Hellas Cert, Mr. Ioannis Kallias, mentioned that "Hellas Cert responded promptly to the need to create health protocols, referring to the excellent cooperation with the Hotel Chamber, as well as to the successful of Health First App, which was positively evaluated by the market stakeholders and worked very effectively in its first year”. He also noted that "this year it is necessary to take the next step with inspection and control by third party independent accredited certification bodies in order to provide the appropriate added value to the implementation of health protocols".
The audience that attended the webinar had the opportunity to take part in an online vote via the "Mentimeter" web platform, the results of which stimulated an interesting exchange of views between the speakers.
Results of the voting on the "Mentimeter" platform:
74% of the audience voted that the 2021 season will be better for tourism than last year.
83% of the audience voted that the health protocols implemented last year contributed to making the country a safe tourist destination.
77% voted that the health protocols were quite or very easy to implement in tourist accommodation.
66% of the audience voted that the inspection process last year regarding the implementation of the protocols by tourist accommodation was sufficient or quite sufficient.
91% of the audience voted that the development of implementation guidelines for the health protocols would contribute to their more effective implementation.
From the constructive discussion that took place, the stakeholders expressed their willingness to work with the National Transparency Authority to develop a guide on safe behaviour for employees in tourism companies.
The discussion was moderated by journalist Mr. Konstantinos Deriziotis, editor of the https://money-tourism.gr/
You can watch the webinar at the following link: https://youtu.be/1AzXWLadbo0