In Greece, a new economy is in the making. In parallel, investment opportunities are abundant and attractive, in a wide variety of sectors. Greece’s massive reform efforts are opening new investment frontiers that reward both first movers and established players.
The next decade is set to see sustained growth in tourism, ICT, energy, environmental sciences, food, beverage and agriculture, logistics, and life sciences.
Which are the main sectors of the Greek economy that could provide your business with the opportunity of a lifetime?
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Due to EU and Greek government incentives, the sector is growing. Investing in the sector right now would give a head-start to business, resulting in great competitive advantages in the medium and long term.
Currently, the IT hardware sector is hit the hardest by the crisis, with sales of equipment dropping in the past couple of years. IT services, like outsourcing, business consulting, and system integration have experienced a slight increase of 1.7% this past year. This is expected to grow. The sale of business softwares has also seen a modest growth of 0.7% last year.
The telecommunication sector seems less fortunate, with sales figures dropping or stagnating over the past year. However, the decline seems to be slowing and forecasts expect the sector to recover due to investments and public incentives.
Whether you decide to invest in, import from, or export to Greece, you’ll need a reliable company to handle your international payments and the .
Tourism
Greek tourism has been experiencing a boom which is getting bigger as the financial crisis evolves.
24 million tourists visited Greece in the first 10 months of 2016, while the figure for the “small country that is constantly teetering on the brink” in 2018 was forecast to reach 30 million.
Greek tourism revenues exceeded €14.6 billion in 2017, showing an increase of 10.8 percent compared to 2016, according to Bank of Greece figures released on Monday.
This development, according to BoG, reflects the increase in tourist inflow by 7.4 percent, reaching 30.1 million visitors.
Airport traffic increased by 9.9 percent, while road traffic increased by 8.7 percent. Arrivals from the EU-28 countries amounted to 61.6 percent, while arrivals of non-EU countries amounted to 28.6 percent.
There are numerous of business opportunities in this sector such as: buy a hotel in greek islands and famous greek destinations like Halkidiki, setup a by-tourism business such as water sports, alternative tourism activities etc.
R & D for Technological Companies
Elon Musk, Tesla’s founder has caught the opportunity and set up an R & D hub in Greece in order to take advantage of:
- the talented and high academic background of the manpower in Greece,
- the low employment costs due to the recent financial crisis that Greece is into and
- the low operational costs for setting up and running an R & D hub in Greece and
- the intelligent tax-free business model of such strategic movement
Elon Musk is a forward thinking entrepreneur and he opened the door to entering Greek Market for many likewise technological companies
Shipping and Marine Services
Greece’s long coastline and strategic location on the borders of Asia, Europe, and Africa provide excellent opportunities for trade and shipping. Consequently, Greece owns the largest merchant marine fleet on the planet, and shipping contributes a whopping 7% to the country’s GDP.
Shipping and merchant services are amongst the sectors least affected by the overall economic situation in Greece. This provides many opportunities for small businesses. Whether you’re active in logistics, or you need products shipped, Greek logistics services are an excellent choice for both investors and as carriers of goods.
Agricultural Products
With Greece part of the Mediterranean, its rich with food culture. Food and drink is an important sector throughout the world. In the foods sector, the main opportunities exist in breakfast products, biscuits, marmalades, sauces, ethnic foods, and meat products.
Healthcare
The current status of the health sector involves the interaction between the Public and the Private sector. Their inter-dependent course creates a dynamic relation in terms of figures, potentiality, manpower, equipment, management, entrepreneurial flexibility, economic cost and social welfare.
Construction
When a country moves their economy forward, new construction comes along. As the country develops, so does its construction and infrastructure. The economic crisis comes to an end and in the short term future, the construction industry will boom again.
Environment
Greece hasn’t always been the front runner when it comes to matter of the environment but now has an opportunity to enhance its previously failing policy on climate change.
Energy
The energy sector in Greece is characterised by a high dependence on imported oil, electricity production largely coming from domestically mined lignite, a largely state-owned company dominating the market and an increasing role for Greece as an energy hub. New business opportunities will emerge after the completion of the new pipelines, the liberalisation of the market and the fulfilment of the rising needs of Southeast Europe.