Greece’s Piraeus Bank has announced the launch of Tourism Sunrise that will enable loans for hoteliers badly affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic has cost the tourism industry over $22 billion and around 50m million job losses globally. In Greece, the tourism industry witnesses 20% of the country’s gross domestic product.
According to the new central bank data, the tourism revenues nosedived to 2.5 million euros in January 2021 as compared to 281 million euros in January 2020 on the account of lockdowns and travel restrictions.
In efforts to gear up a fight against the dismal scenario, Tourism Sunrise will assist hoteliers with loans up to 2,000 euros ($2,395) per room that will have an upper limit of 20% of their projected annual sales and fulfill their working capital needs.
Additionally, the bank has supported over 4,000 clients financially with outstanding loans with funding of nearly 3 billion euros and investments in the tourism sector. The country has taken steps to re-open tourism in the next week, a month ahead of schedule.