An excellent example of the implementation of the 'Green Tourism' Operation was the case of Hotel Perinthos Sivris, a three-star hotel with a capacity of 48 rooms and 99 beds in the outskirts of Thessaloniki, which carried out a pioneering investment for the energy upgrading and autonomy of the facility.

More specifically, through the 'Green Tourism' programme, the enterprise successfully implemented its business plan with a budget of 256,327.95 euro during the 2011-2012 period. With this investment, the enterprise installed and operated a closed-circuit heating and cooling system at its premises, utilising the heat of geological formations not characteristics as geothermal potential, i.e. with a shallow geothermal system. Additionally, the enterprise installed solar collectors, replaced the lamps throughout its premises with new energy-saving lamps and, finally, implemented an ISO 140001:2004 environmental management system.

The hotel significantly improved its environmental footprint, upgrading its infrastructure and properly exploiting the local geographic and geophysical characteristics, while acquiring the relevant certification.

Thanks to its geothermal system, Hotel Perinthos Sivris now purchases significantly less electricity from the Public Power Corporation (DEI), thus reducing the release of carbon dioxide into the environment and saving energy resources. The significant reduction in electricity consumption obviously leads also to a reduction in operating costs. According to measurements carried out during the first year of operation after the installation of the energy-saving equipment, a reduction in primary energy consumption of approximately 23% was recorded, along with a reduction in operating costs of approximately 3%. The reason the reduction in the enterprise's operating costs is not proportionate to the energy saving percentage is due to an increase of approximately 65% in electricity prices between 2009 and 2013. Nevertheless, the investment fulfilled the objectives of the programme, which were the growth of the entrepreneur's environmental awareness and the improvement of the enterprise's environmental footprint.

This pioneering investment, which took place in an environmentally burdened area, can serve as a model for similar investments in the future by enterprises with similar needs. As the entrepreneur himself stated, the investment contributed significantly to reducing the enterprise's electricity consumption and to its energy independence in an area where black-outs are common due to high loads, while enabling it to use a subsidised programme to carry out this type of investment, which it would have otherwise been unable to implement with own funds due to its particularly high cost.

Web: http://www.perinthoshotel.gr/