Some key takeaways from #Delphi Economic Forum:

#Tourism: Still the first pillar of the #Greek #economy, employing more than 400.000 employees. Aside from taxation and governmental issues common on every speech from every vertical, a major issue is extending the core season from 4-5 months to 9-12. This can happen if the industry caters to lesser-known segments such as bi-country residents, sport, rural, spa and congress tourism.  Long-term tourists staying in Greece for 3 to 6 months a year were far more likely to care about the wellbeing of Greece and act as informal ambassadors in comparison to weekenders, Mr. Constantakopoulos from Temes S.A. (Costa Navarino / Athens Hilton) noted.

Another issue mentioned by Mr. Andreadis of Sani/Ikos is centralized spatial planning (or lack thereof) but the lack of substantial formal lobbying pressure leaves all major decisions to the central government.

As per the Greek coastline, a useful fact, noted by Mr. Koutsivitis from Astir Palace, is that only 1.5% is utilized, debunking the notion that Greece has reached peak coastal development and justifying the 650€ million investment in total on Astir Palace.

On #hotel technology, a common issue is trying to understand the customer better and proactively fulfill requests through data analysis.

GDPR proves to be challenging in the struggle between offering the best possible personalized services while maintaining outstanding privacy and anonymity, especially in small luxury hotels.

With the rapid rise of channel management software, CRM and management/operator/owner hybrid firms like HotelBrain, we see a paradigm shift from managing by intuition to managing based on data along with a more pragmatic approach to day-to-day operations.

The consensus is that 2019 will be a good year for Greek tourism, yet major destinations like Turkey, Egypt, Spain are making a strong comeback and lesser known like Morocco and Jordan offering a differentiated “experience-on-a-budget” challenge the market.

#Shipping : Another major pillar of the Greek economy, facing multiple and global challenging issues for the year ahead. First and foremost is the environmental footprint of ships and the race to conform with IMO's 2020 sulfur cap, Mr. Prokopiou from Dynagas noted. This regulation requires major capital expenses aboard the ships and the available scrubber solutions get the job half-done without refinery production of compliant fuel.

Further on regulations and laws, as 74% of goods entering or leaving Europe go by sea, the challenge is the ambiguity between the EU centralized port regulation with the laws of every country-member state.

Taxation and managerial costs in Greece make Dubai and Singapore seem lucrative yet the Greek shipowners still resist the urge to transfer their headquarters, Mr. Martinos from Eastern Mediterranean and Mr. Laskaridis from Lavinia/Laskaridis Shipping noted. However, as formal lobbying is absent, the state takes little to no steps to rectify the market and attract new players.

The Brexit charade causes major disturbances and unrest to UK ship-owners as it is unclear even today of what will happen next. Under circumstances, Greece could act as a stable pillar and haven to fleeting UK shipping companies.

LNG/LPG and Hydrogen seem the most lucrative markets as we are, in theory, reaching peak-oil status Mr. Tsakos noted.

As per shipping technology, the industry seems to lag compared to other major verticals. Only a few leading carriers have applied digital technologies toward enhancing their commercial and operational activities. Advanced analytics, box tracking, maintenance, empty-container repositioning, document management, network design, cyber threats, and pricing are among the activities that the carriers need to digitalize, Mrs. Egloff from BCG noted.

#Energy: The Greek energy sector is still largely dependent on fossil fuels, most of which are imported. About 49% of its energy requirements are covered by petroleum products alone, compared to an average of 33.4% at the EU level. The sector sees rapid growth as it is imperative for the Public Power Corporation (PPC) to decrease its clientele from 88% in 2016 to less than 50% in 2020. However, only a fraction of the market-players can produce electricity on their own and as PPC has strong government ties, bureaucratic and red-tape issues arise on the way to market reform.

#Banking and #Finance: The forum was heavily focused on blockchain, AI and its effects on traditional banking. Mr. Megalou from Piraeus Bank argued that traditional Greek banks face competition from small fintech firms on the customer experience side, mainly due to PSD2 . However, as there are limited players with strong barriers to entry in the form of tight regulations, capital investments needed and large customer bases, traditional banks are more likely to adapt to the new challenges and improve customer care while maintaining strong privacy and security standards. A major underlying issue is the non-performing loans (NPL’s) of Greek households and SME’s, Mr. Georgakopoulos from Piraeus Bank said. Even though it was a challenge for other underperforming economies like Spain, the Greek situation is much more complex. The NPL’s in Greece range from small consumer loans and credit cards, to real estate and SME’s credit lines. This makes the Greek NPL market unique in Europe and calls for major systemic solutions with a broad political consensus in order to revitalize the stagnant economy.