“Tourism for All” Program, the advantages of participating for your business

The “Tourism for All” Program that applies in summer 2023 too, is expected to support domestic tourism by subsidizing the holidays of this year’s 400.000 beneficiaries.

All hotes and other accommodations collaborating with Cardlink, can serve customers who wish to use the digital debit card of the program by redeeming it easily at the POS or on their online booking platform.

We answer here to possible questions you might have about the “Tourism for All” Program. More information can also be found at https://vouchers.gov.gr/tourism4all.

1. What is the “Tourism for All” PASS?

By decision of the Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with the Information Society and within the framework of the “Tourism for All” program, all adults (based on their income criteria) who are tax residents in Greece, may apply for the subsidy of accommodation services (financial support).

This financial aid will be provided through an immaterial digital debit card (Tourism for All PASS) and refers to physical or online transactions, exclusively for accommodation services (hotel or tourist accommodation), for holidays within the Territory.

2. What is the subsidy of the “Tourism for All” Program for the beneficiaries?

• Subsidy of €150 per beneficiary (from €120 in 2022)
• Special provision for a higher subsidy of €200 for people with disabilities, with disability of 67% or more
• Contactless payment and redemption of the amount on the digital debit card, at any accommodation provider (hotels, accommodation, etc.) and at any destination in the country, without geographical restrictions
• Immediate compensation of providers, without long and time-consuming bureaucratic procedures
• Redemption of the amount one-off or in installments until June 2023

3. What are the merchant categories that can participate in the “Tourism for All” Program?

The merchant category codes (MCCs) that can participate in the program are:

For the first year, businesses will instantly receive payments when accepting the immaterial card, without the time-consuming bureaucratic procedures that applied before.

4. Are travel expenses included in the “Tourism for All” Program, such as ferry tickets?

No. The Program exclusively covers only the subsidy of tourist accommodation expenses.

5. How will be redeemed the subsidy of the “Tourism for All” Program at the Cardlink POS? Is it necessary for beneficiaries to have smartphones for contactless payments?

The beneficiaries of the Program can redeem the subsidy to hotels or tourist accommodations through the immaterial card Tourism for All until 30.06.2023, one-off or in partial transactions. They can use any type of mobile phone to apply to the Program and activate the immaterial card. Then they need to connect it to a digital wallet of their choice (Apple Pay, Google Pay or myAlpha Wallet) and use a smartphone that supports NFC transactions to redeem it.

Alternatively, they can use it on the booking websites of the accommodation providers, with no need for NFC technology, by submitting the card details.

In order to redeem the immaterial debit card at the Cardlink POS of your business, you just enter the payment / redemption amount, and then your customer taps his smartphone contactless on the pos.

6. Are there any restrictions concerning the “Tourism for All” Program?

No, there are no restrictions. The only condition is that the total amount of the contactless payment does not exceed €150 per beneficiary (€200 per beneficiary with disabilities).

7. What are the advantages of participating in the “Tourism for All” Program for a business?

Some of the benefits of participating in the program are:

• Increase your income with immediate compensation and without time-consuming bureaucratic procedures
• Raise in bookings during low tourism periods
• Increase your business visibility
• Improve customer experience