Terms And Condition
At the beginning of the new tourist season, we consider it necessary to remind you of certain things regarding the obligations of travel agencies in various areas of their work, in accordance with the relevant legislation, in order to avoid any illegalities and problems, both with consumers and with the State:
Package trips
Package trips are those that include at least two travel services (usually transportation and accommodation) and last at least 24 hours or include an overnight stay when they are of shorter duration.
Package trips also include cruises
The main obligations of the organizer in package trips, according to the Presidential Decree 7/2018, which incorporated the relevant European Directive (EU) 2015/2302 into Greek law, includes the drawing up of a contract with the traveler for the trip and the existence of a professional liability insurance policy for the organizer, for the repatriation of travelers and the refund of their money in the event of its insolvency, as well as for the refund of money and any compensation in the event of non-performance or improper performance of the organized travel contract by the organizer.
We also note that in the case of a cruise, the organizer is the cruise company, which must comply with the organizer's obligations as provided for in Presidential Decree 7/2018. Only in the case where the cruise company is established outside the European Economic Area, in accordance with article 19 of Presidential Decree 7/2018, the seller established in Greece is subject to the obligations provided for organizers in chapters D’ (EXECUTION OF THE PACKAGE) and E’ (PROTECTION AGAINST INSOLVENCY), unless the seller provides evidence that the organizer complies with the provisions of these chapters.
Obligation to indicate the G.E.M.I. number in the company's documents (art. 22 L. 4919/2022)
We also remind you of the obligation of all companies (and therefore tourist agencies) to indicate their G.E.M.I. number:
in every document concerning the company and bearing its name, on its websites, and in its online stores.
In addition: Letters and order documents, regardless of their form, websites and online stores of businesses must clearly indicate their legal form, their name, the place of headquarters and the fact that they are in liquidation, when applicable.
According to the clarification document 95207/05-10-2022 of the General Secretariat of Commerce, the above obligation does not concern retail sales receipts or invoices.
Third-country tourist agencies
Finally, we would like to point out once again that, according to paragraph 2 of article 3 of Law 393/1976 on tourist agencies, as amended and in force, natural persons, third-country nationals, as well as legal entities headquartered in third countries, have the right to operate a tourist agency in our country, provided that they appoint a special power of attorney in Greece. This right is recognized under the condition that, according to the legislation of the state of citizenship or the seat of these tourist agencies, the same right is recognized for Greek citizens and for businesses that have their seat in Greece.
Otherwise, the above natural or legal persons are entitled to provide tourist services only if they contract for this purpose with a tourist agency that operates legally in Greece.
Consequently, the -unfortunately very frequent- provision of travel services in our country by tourist agencies from non-EU countries that do not meet the above conditions is completely illegal, and any case that is identified should be reported to the competent Regional Tourism Services (RTS) of the Ministry of Tourism and to our Federation.