FEDHATTA: Solicitation of cruise tourists by KTEL SA

The intervention of the Ministry of Shipping and Insular Policy in order to restore phenomena of solicitation of cruise passengers in the country's ports by KTEL SA, which cause a serious blow to tourist transport, which is carried out legally only with special tourist buses, and brutally offend the tourist product of our country, is requested by the Federation of Hellenic Associations of Travel & Tourism Agencies (FedHATTA) and the Association of Tourist and Travel Agencies in Greece (HATTA), on the occasion of the case of the port of Katakolo.

Specifically, KTEL SA illegally boards cruise tourists-passengers within the Land Zone of Katakolo Port, from a temporary bus stop at an arbitrary point, with the aim of transporting them to the archaeological site of Ancient Olympia. Individuals, who operate as salespeople for KTEL SA, exclusively approach tourists disembarking from cruise ships in order to sell them this specific transport on the spot.

This practice does not constitute transportation, as the routes are not scheduled for the general public, but are carried out exclusively when large cruise ships arrive and concern only specific passengers. On the contrary, it is clearly a case of solicitation, which is expressly prohibited within the Land Zone of the ports, and of illegal tourist transport, which is only permitted in tourist offices with special tourist buses according to Law 711/1977.

Therefore, this is an interception of the work of the tourist agencies-owners of tourist buses, who have the exclusive legal right to carry out these transfers.

In this context, FedHATTA and HATTA pose two reasonable questions:

- What receipts does KTEL SA issue to tourists for these specific transfers?

- How does it attribute to MyDATA the VAT attributable to this specific sale, which it does not have the right to carry out?

Furthermore, the two bodies, as representatives of the Greek tourist agency sector, call on the Ministry of Shipping and Insular Policy to take immediate action in order to:

- carry out inspections in the country's ports to ensure compliance with legality

- seek accountability where appropriate
- rid maritime tourism of the toxic phenomenon of KTEL SA, which, with the chronic impunity and tolerance of the authorities, has ended up acting as a "state within a state".

The president of FedHATTA, Mr. Lysandros Tsilidis, stated: "Cruise travelers have an organized program and their travel and excursions are usually arranged in advance. It is not possible, when they disembark at the ports, to encounter a situation where some individuals, without any legalization, approach them in a snarky manner to sell them transportation or excursions. This atmosphere of an oriental bazaar is unacceptable in a European country that respects itself as a tourist destination and its foreign visitors.

We believe that it is time for the Ministry of Shipping and Insular Policy to check the situation in the country's ports, to seek out those responsible wherever they exist, to hold them accountable with rigor and to rid maritime tourism of the toxic phenomenon of KTEL SA, which, having come to consider the whole of Greece its fiefdom - from long-term impunity, but also due to the support of those who should strictly prevent it -, engages with characteristic contempt for every law and rule in every kind of illegality, where there is a possibility of profiting by stealing the work of others.

It is noted that KTEL SA has had the right for many years to establish tourist offices and carry out their work with special tourist buses that it may have at its disposal. However, it continues to systematically outlaw all types of tourist transport and to carry them out with buses that are classified as intercity means of transport (and which should first be declassified as such, so that they can be used as tourist buses later).