International Journal of Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Law determine the current institutional framework for the protection of caves in Greece in conjunction with International Conventions of Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage. Research was made through the Government Gazette (www.et.gr), the legal site lawdb.intrasoftnet.com, the data base DIAVGEIA (Transparency Program initiative http://diavgeia.gov.gr/ & et.diavgeia.gov.gr), as well as the websites of Local Authorities. In addition, research was made to discover the exploited caves which can be visited by the public, initially through the website of the competent Ministry of Culture and Sports (Odysseus) and then through the official website of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, of Ministry of Tourism as well as of private institutions (Speleological Federation, Speleological Hellenic Athletic Club etc.). Finally, google was used with the keywords in Greek “σπήλαια/spilaia= caves” (405.000 results) and “σπηλαιοτουρισμός/speleotourism=cave tourism” (οnly 513 results). In English the same keywords returned 800.000.000 (cave) and 29.500 (cave tourism) and 2.040.000 (speleotourism) results. The results of the research were the following: a) No single data base exists concerning the number of existing caves in Greece and the number of exploited caves. b) As regards public entities, the Ministry of Tourism through its website (https://www.visitgreece.gr/el/search/?q=%CF%83%CF%80%CE%AE%CE%B B%CE%B1%CE%B9%CE%B1§ion=Experiences) numbers about 90 caves per prefecture in Greece, without however providing any reference to other websites or information regarding their exploitation or frequency of visits to them or information on their management bodies. The Ministry of Culture on its website numbers 111 caves (instead of 86 caves in 2014) (http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/gh23.jsp?letter=18). The data include description of archaeological finds and information on the competent Ephorate of Paleoanthropology - Speleology. However, the list does not match the one kept by the Ministry of Tourism, while significantly exploited caves like the Perama Cave of Ioannina, the Drogorati Cave in Kefalonia etc are absent. On the website of the Ministry of Environment (http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/gh23.jsp?letter=18) there is no such information. c) Finally, through research in the site DIAVGEIA, many decisions of the Ministry of Culture were spotted regarding the assignment of operation, exploitation and management of caves to local authorities. d) Existing data also vary on sites of private bodies like the SELAS Caving Club (ΣΕΛΑΣ (fhs.gr), or the Hellenic Speleological Society (http://www.ese.edu.gr/). For instance, the Hellenic Speleological Society (http://www.ese.edu.gr/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=2175) mentions 21 exploited caves, some of which are absent from the website of the Ministry of Culture, such as the Ideon Andron in Crete, while there are others that are in fact exploited but not mentioned. Also, according to the company, it hosts the BBS (Bulletin
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