The action concerns the strengthening of tourism entrepreneurship through the creation of new very small, small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance, Nikos Papathanasis, proceeded with the increase in the budget of the call for applications for funding in the action “Enhancing the establishment and operation of new tourism small and medium-sized enterprises”, of the NSRF 2021-2027 “Competitiveness” program.
Specifically, the available budget is increasing by 250 million euros and the additional available resources come in response to the extremely high-quality proposals submitted. Now, the funding will cover more than 68% of the proposals.
It is noted that before the increase, 3,313 investment projects with a total budget of 1.09 billion euros were subsidized, which are expected to exceed 4,600 investment projects and will approach 1.6 billion euros. It is emphasized that 6,669 applications for relevant financing have been submitted throughout the territory.
The action concerns the strengthening of tourism entrepreneurship through the creation of new very small, small and medium-sized enterprises of selected activity codes (KAD) of tourism, encouraging the creation of new businesses, which in addition to their contribution to increasing the capacity of the Greek tourism industry, will offer quality and reliable services and will contribute to the enrichment of the tourism product, as well as to increasing employment.
The eligible budget of the investment project ranges from 80,000 to 400,000 euros. The percentage of support for funding applications is uniform for all eligible costs of investment projects and amounts to 45% of the subsidized budget.
The percentage of the subsidy may be increased by 10% if the investment is made in a remote area, or small islands, or a fire-stricken, earthquake-stricken, or flooded area, or an additional 5% with the declaration when submitting the funding application of an employment target of at least 0.2 EMU, in the first year after the completion of the investment.
Beneficiaries of the program are newly established and newly established very small, small and medium-sized enterprises, which will be or are active in the tourism sector.
Specifically:
Category A. Under establishment. Businesses that will be established after the date of issuance of the announcement of the action up to the first disbursement of the grant and will operate exclusively in eligible KAD throughout the implementation of the investment plan and until the repayment of the investment.
Category B. Newly established. The term newly established defines businesses for which 12 months of continuous operation have not elapsed (twelve months have not elapsed from the date of commencement of the business at the AADE up to the date of announcement of the action).
It is clarified that enterprises must have the investment KAD before the first disbursement. For the formation of the budget of the investment projects to be financed in the action, the following basic categories of eligible expenses are: buildings, facilities and surrounding area, machinery – equipment, digital equipment, software and software services.
In addition, expenses are supported for:
– Certification of quality assurance systems, environmental management in accordance with national, harmonized, and – Promotion, extroversion and internationalization.
– Means of transport.
– Studies and consulting services as well as other European and international standards.
– Indirect costs.
Increase in passengers and flights at “El. Venizelos”
Passenger traffic at Athens airport increased in December 2025, confirming the positive dynamics recorded throughout the year. Specifically, according to preliminary data from Athens International Airport (AIA), total passenger traffic in December amounted to 2.31 million passengers, an increase of 8.4% compared to the corresponding month of 2024.
Both domestic and international traffic recorded an increase, with domestic traffic increasing by 5.5% to 628 thousand passengers, while international passenger traffic increased by 9.6%, reaching 1.68 million passengers. On an annual basis, 2025 was another year of strong growth for Athens Airport. Total passenger traffic amounted to 33.99 million passengers, an increase of 6.7% compared to 2024.
Aircraft movements were also on the rise. In December 2025, a total of 19,476 flights were operated, an increase of 6.5% compared to December 2024.
Domestic flights increased by 4.2% and international flights by 7.7%. Overall, for 2025, the number of flights at “Eleftherios Venizelos” amounted to 283,589, recording an increase of 5.7% on an annual basis. International flights increased by 8.7%, while domestic flights increased by 1.3%.
Source: vradini.gr