By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Greece has published a detailed explanation of its new Special Spatial Framework for Tourism, setting out how hotel construction, island development, coastal building and short-term rentals will be regulated. The 12-question document, dated August 11, makes no reference to Türkiye or to the Aegean sovereignty objection Ankara raised when the framework was announced four days earlier.
The framework took effect with publication in the Government Gazette on August 7. Issued through a joint ministerial decision by Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou and Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni, it includes rules that have applied since publication as well as directions to be incorporated into lower-level planning.
What changes under the new framework
Greece is divided into five categories according to the intensity of tourism development, measured primarily through tourist-bed numbers in relation to the size and permanent population of each municipal unit.
Controlled Development Areas cover destinations already carrying heavy tourism pressure, where the emphasis is on upgrading existing accommodation and applying stricter conditions to new projects. Other categories allow progressively greater room for development, while Special Development Support Areas are geared mainly toward forms of tourism including mountain, thermal, maritime and diving activities.
Islands other than Crete and Evia are placed in a separate three-group system based on size. Smaller islands are subject to tighter conditions on building, landscape protection and the scale of new accommodation.
New hotels outside approved urban plans face substantially higher land requirements in the areas under the greatest pressure. Category A now requires a minimum plot of 16,000 square meters, compared with the previous 8,000-square-meter threshold and exemptions that could permit construction on 4,000 square meters. Category B requires 12,000 square meters, while Categories C and D require 8,000. Category E retains exemptions down to 4,000 square meters for projects meeting specified planning, energy and environmental standards.
On Category A islands, new tourist accommodation is limited to 100 beds for the first 16,000 square meters of a site, with additional capacity governed by separate density rules. Category B islands may host new units of up to 350 beds. Smaller islands in Groups II and III face stricter construction and landscape controls, with new developments capped at 100 beds.
A separate rule applies along the coastline. New site works and construction are prohibited within 25 meters of the shoreline, apart from limited exceptions for access for people with disabilities, ambulance access and interventions specifically permitted under Greek coastal legislation.
Short-term rentals are also brought more directly into the planning system. The framework does not itself impose a nationwide ban or immediately activate new operating limits, but provides for measures including annual duration restrictions, geographical zones where short-term rentals may be limited or prohibited, conditions governing the use of homes for such rentals and controls on new supply in areas under heavy pressure.
Projects already in the approval system may remain under the previous regime in specified cases. The transitional provisions cover procedures in which a relevant administrative act had been issued or a complete application file submitted before publication, including environmental approvals, building permits and certain investment procedures.
Türkiye's objection
Türkiye objected on August 7, focusing not on Greece's rules for hotels or tourism investment but on what Ankara sees as the framework's reach into the Aegean.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said the framework, because it also encompasses the Aegean Sea, could have no legal consequences for Türkiye in the two countries' interconnected Aegean disputes, including geographical features that Ankara maintains were not transferred to Greek sovereignty under international treaties.
Keçeli accused Greece of using environmental protection for political purposes and said unilateral steps should be avoided in enclosed or semi-enclosed seas such as the Aegean and Mediterranean. He pointed to international maritime law's emphasis on cooperation between coastal states on issues including the environment and reiterated Türkiye's willingness to work with Greece.
His reference to geographical features whose sovereignty was not transferred to Greece reflects Ankara's longstanding position on the status of a number of islands, islets and rocks in the Aegean, a position Athens rejects. The exchange adds another layer to an Aegean dispute that has already widened this year, with Bosphorus News previously reporting that Greece asked the European Union to intervene over Turkish fishing activity.
The Turkish statement also invoked the December 7, 2023 Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good-Neighbourliness, repeating Ankara's position that outstanding issues should be approached on the basis of international law, equity and good-neighbourly relations.
The Greek explainer does not take up the dispute
The August 11 document is extensive on the mechanics of the new system. Its 12 questions cover zoning categories, island classifications, hotel plot sizes, coastal restrictions, protected areas, short-term rentals, existing permits and the changes made since the framework was circulated for public consultation.
Türkiye is not mentioned. Neither is Keçeli's August 7 statement or the sovereignty issue raised by Ankara.
The final question specifically asks how the adopted framework differs from the earlier consultation version. The answer points to stronger protections for islands, coastal zones, Natura and other protected areas, greater emphasis on carrying capacity, tighter treatment of scattered off-plan construction and additional provisions for short-term rentals. The Turkish objection does not appear among the factors discussed.
The omission does not establish whether Ankara's statement was considered inside the Greek government, and the document was not presented as a diplomatic response. But in its first detailed public explanation after the Turkish objection, Athens confines itself to how the framework will operate.
For hotel developers, municipalities and property owners, that means larger minimum plots in heavily developed destinations, new limits on island capacity and a protected 25-meter coastal strip. Ankara's objection sits outside those planning rules: it concerns whether the framework's application in the Aegean can have any bearing on sovereignty questions that Türkiye considers unresolved.
The August 11 explainer offers no answer to that claim.
Sources: Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy, Greek Ministry of Tourism, Government Gazette of the Hellenic Republic, Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bosphorus News review and reporting.