A day after the meeting of the National Assembly of the ND, 15 “blue” MPs come out on the counter-attack and ask the Ministers of Development and Tourism to take measures for unfair practices of online travel agents.
A small “blue guerrilla” broke out just one day after the meeting of the ND Parliamentary Group, with 15 MPs reporting on unfair practices of online travel agencies, submitting a question to the Ministers of Development, Takis Theodorikakos, and Tourism, Olga Kefalogiannis, talking about misleading practices by platforms that “close” tourist accommodations.
The “15” point out that the owners of tourist accommodation, who mostly use online travel agencies, “face conditions of suffocating control of the market” from these platforms, which have caused the reaction of the institutional bodies of the sector, which highlight a series of practices that distort healthy competition.
They point out that despite the relevant investigation by the Competition Commission, tourism businesses are affected by “exorbitant brokerage commissions, aggressive and misleading advertising tactics, as well as digital manipulation practices”.
The question in detail:
SUBJECT: “Taking measures to deal with unfair practices by online travel agency platforms – Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)”
The tourism sector is the heavy industry of our national economy, playing a catalytic role in the productive reconstruction and development prospects of our country. Indicatively, in 2025, 43.3 million tourists visited Greece, with a direct contribution of 32.4 billion euros to our economy for the same year, an amount corresponding to 13% of GDP and exceeding 30% including the indirect contribution of the specific sector.
The vast majority of hoteliers and tourist accommodation owners use online travel agencies (OTAs) to attract customers and manage their bookings. One of the most popular OTAs in Greece is Booking.com, holding 45% of the market share, with Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Expedia and other similar platforms following with much lower percentages.
Unfortunately, the owners of hotels and tourist accommodation in general face conditions of suffocating control of the market by OTA platforms.
This control regime has provoked the strong protests of the institutional bodies of the sector, such as the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) and the Hotel Chamber of Greece (XEE), who highlight a series of practices that distort healthy competition through their now official complaints.
The seriousness of the issue is confirmed in an even more official way, as the Hellenic Competition Commission is conducting a strict investigation into the alleged abuse of a dominant position by OTA, following a complaint for a possible violation of Article 2 of Law 3959/2011 and Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. In fact, the aforementioned Authority has put up for public consultation (until July 27, 2026) the package of commitments that the OTA under investigation was forced to propose, in order to mitigate the serious concerns regarding the exclusion of competing platforms and the manipulation of the market through non-transparent ranking mechanisms (Default Ranking Mechanism) and the recommended accommodation programs it uses (Preferred, Preferred Plus, Booking Sponsored Benefit).
Despite the ongoing investigation by the Hellenic Competition Commission, Greek tourism businesses are still affected by practices that need immediate legislative and regulatory intervention, such as:
– Exorbitant Commissions (Mezzuria): The platforms impose abusively extremely high commission rates, which range from 15%-20% and by extension up to 25% of the booking price, including VAT, taking away valuable liquidity from Greek businesses.
– Aggressive and Misleading Advertising Tactics: The phenomenon of using non-contracted hotel names in paid advertisements of the online platform (e.g. Google Ads) is observed. When the consumer searches for the specific accommodation and is taken to the platform, a “no availability” message appears, causing the system to redirect them to other contracted accommodation, stealing the original business’s clientele.
– Digital Manipulation Practices (Dark Patterns): Use of misleading messages (e.g. “Only 1 room left”), which artificially create a sense of urgency in the consumer, forcing them to make a reservation.
Because the protection of Greek businesses and consumers from monopolistic or oligopolistic practices is essential for the sustainability of the domestic tourism product and the survival of businesses/owners of small and medium accommodation.
Because the tourism sector is one of the most important pillars of growth and revenue for the Greek economy.
Because tourism is a sector of high government priority.
The competent Mr. Ministers, as far as they are concerned:
Is there any intention, given the stranglehold on the market, to take legislative initiatives to limit or cap the percentage of brokerage commission that OTAs are allowed to deduct from Greek hotel companies?
There is a corresponding legislative provision for the prohibition of the withholding of a percentage of brokerage commission by the OTA, on the VAT. and any other taxes?
What actions does the competent General Secretariat of Trade intend to take to combat aggressive advertising tactics (interception of names of non-contracted accommodation) and digital deception practices (dark patterns) that are applied to the detriment of Greek citizens and tourists?
How does the Ministry intend to utilize the findings and outcome of the public consultation of the Hellenic Competition Commission (ending on 29 July 2026) to ensure the complete and permanent elimination of unfair practices of OTA platforms in the Greek market?
Source: In
