ANA-MPA — Ferry companies on Monday announced a 10 percent hike in all ferry fares for passengers, while fares for vehicles are to remain the same. The hike was imposed after passenger fares were moved from the 13 percent VAT category to the highest 23 percent VAT category. Taxes and therefore fares for vehicles, which were already charged at 23 percent VAT, remained unchanged.
The ferry line companies estimate that the price hikes will lead to an estimated 20-30 percent reduction in passenger traffic, with a loss of 2.5-3.0 million passengers. According to the latest Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) report, roughly 65 percent of passengers using Greece ‘s ferries in 2014 were tourists, of which 5.2 million were Greeks and 3.4 million were foreign nationals.
The tax revenue in 2013, meanwhile, was an estimated 35.6 million euros in taxes for third parties (port fees etc) and 85 million euros from VAT.
