Vacations in Greece to be more expensive despite crisis


Having survived bankruptcy after taking 86 billion euros ($94.92 billion) from the EU, Greece has increased value-added tax on tourism expenses as a primary sanction to repay its debt, which will possibly trigger a significant increase to vacation prices in Greece. To overcome the economic crisis, Greece agreed to take the EU's recovery credit and follow the EU's conditions. First, Greece will increase the value-added tax on luxury expenses to repay recovery loans the country will take from EU.This implementation will affect Greece's most important source of income, which comes from its tourism industry. With the new implementation, the rate of value-added tax in the food sector will increase from 6.5 percent to 13 percent and the rate of value-added tax in the accommodation sector will increase from 13 percent to 23 percent. Together with the additional taxes in the other sectors, those who will spend their vacation in Greece will pay between 30 and 40 percent more money compared to the previous year.