A proposal, which aims to provide a solution to the chronic problem of obtaining an operating license for hotels, was submitted by DISY MP and President of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy Kyriakos Hatzigiannis. The proposal seems to be viewed positively in the first phase by the hoteliers' associations, as well as by the other parties, provided that the same strict conditions for the granting of the final license to hotels will continue to apply.
In particular, the proposal provides for the provision of an extension for those hotels that have not finally received an operating license, with the granting of a temporary license, or a temporary special mark, depending on the way it will be formulated at the end, so that these hotels can continue to operate, until they are able to submit all the certificates that are necessary to be submitted to the competent Authorities, to secure the final authorisation. A first thought is that the extension is valid for one year. The deadline for submitting the necessary certificates had passed in November 2025. Thus, the thought is to give an extension until November 2026 to submit the certificates and grant the permits.
Speaking to "F", Kyriakos Hatzigiannis noted that the goal is to give an extension so that hotels that have not secured a license can continue to operate, but without any discount in terms of hoteliers' obligations to secure the necessary certificates. According to Mr. Hatzigiannis, there are several hotels that have not yet received the necessary permits for various reasons and with this proposal a way out will be given to tourist accommodations to meet their obligations and continue their operation.
In particular, the draft law, entitled "The Regulation of the Establishment and Operation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation (Amendment) Law of 2025", provides for the possibility of issuing a special temporary operating license, under strict conditions, for hotel and tourist units that are unable to fully comply with the current legislation, with the main axis being the implementation of integrated fire protection plans.
In his statements after the end of the session, Mr. Hatzigiannis stated that the goal is to deal with a chronic problematic situation, where hundreds of tourist units operate outside the licensed framework. As he mentioned, the proposal creates "a special regime of legality on the basis of a special operating license", as long as the fire protection requirements and the provisions of the rest of the national legislation are met. At the same time, he noted that the practice of successive annual extensions did not provide a solution to the problem, arguing that the proposed regulation is the only realistic option between the immediate closure of unlicensed units and the perpetuation of the existing situation.
According to our information, a hotel may not have received the final operating license for various reasons, which may be due either to the delay in submitting the necessary certificates – which in this case are too many – and concern either a swimming pool operating license, a license to sell alcohol, a fire protection license, and many others, or because the owner may have proceeded with interventions in the original building without having secured the required approvals. With the regulation that is being promoted, hoteliers will be given the opportunity to proceed with the settlement of their obligations, without having to suspend their operation and not affecting the hotel industry as a whole.
According to our same information, at a later stage, the issue of securing licenses for the operation of hotels is expected to be put on the table for discussion with the aim of simplifying the whole process and not having the issue of delays or missing data every year. And this is because various Authorities are involved in this part, such as the EOA, the Fire Brigade, the Health Department and other bodies and the effort will be to find a way to simplify the procedures, without of course reducing the obligations of the hotels in any way.
