Under the Greek Development law 4877 and its second proclamation “aid for tourism investments” activities relative to health tourism can have state aid.
Under the second proclamation of “aid for tourism investments of the Greek Development law 4887/22 activities relative to health tourism such as establishing or modernization of hotels in areas of health tourism (thermal springs etc), or part of activities such as spa, being a part of the investment, can have state aid. The proclamation is open for submissions and investors can apply until the 13th of October 2023 their proposals for the state aid. The aid percentage varies from 75% to 25% depending at the geographic region in Greece that the company will implement the investment, its size and other special criteria.
The forms of aid are:
- Tax exemption
- Grant
- Leasing subsidy
- Subsidy for the cost of employment created
Small and very small companies (up to 50 Annual working units in personnel, and turnover or balance sheet less than 10 mil the last fiscal year before submission) are eligible for grants and all benefits while medium and large size companies (with sizes larger than the above) are eligible for tax exemption, and leasing subsidy.
Eligible for application are legal entities already established, before the submission, with any form of commercial company (SA, Ltd, Private Company) and Cooperatives. The investment plans concern the creation of a new unit.
Eligible costs are the following:
- Construction of buildings, special and ancillary facilities of buildings, constructions to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities, and landscaping. Such expenditure may not exceed sixty percent (60%) of the total budget.
- Purchase and installation of new modern machinery and equipment (including the accommodation equipment), technical installations and means of transport moving around the site of the establishment,
- Rental payments for the leasing of new modern machinery and other equipment, the use of which is acquired
- Special installations (not relating to buildings) and mechanical installations
- Transfer of technology, through the purchase of intellectual property rights, licenses, patents, know-how and unregistered technical knowledge,
- Quality assurance and quality control systems, certification, supply and installation of software and business organization systems
The minimum eligible amount of investment for the inclusion of investment projects for aid is determined based on the size of the entity, i.e:
- for large enterprises, €000.000,
- for medium-sized enterprises €000,
- for small enterprises, €000,
- for very small enterprises, €000,
- for cooperatives, to the amount of €50.000.
Ioannis Roukas is Economist, Managing of ZKP Consultants and Elitour member.