Confederation of Greek Tourism (SETE) chief Andreas Andreadis urged holiday makers to use their credit cards when making purchases in the hope that this would hinder tax evasion. The use of plastic cards is viewed as the easiest way of clamping down on evasion at a time when calculations show that 40% of receipts are not issued in tourist areas to avoid VAT. Furthermore, the government has signalled plans to increase VAT at some tourist hotspots.

Just a few days earlier, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had suggested the obligatory use of credit cards for transactions over 70 euros. On his part, Andreadis states that tourists should be given incentives to use their cards.