Greek Hotel Sector Improves Financial Picture

There are a plethora of complaints coming from Greece’s hotel sector regarding difficult times, desperately low room rates and a severe drop in business. Perhaps so. Figures released recently by the ICAP Data Bank, however, tell a different story. These figure show that 2001 was perhaps the most profitable year for hoteliers since 1996. It was definitely a good year for hoteliers in the Attica region.

And although figures are not available as yet for 2002, year end data from the HotelBenchmark Survey by Deloitte & Touche reveals that despite the tough trading conditions during 2002 average room rates for hotels within the euro-zone and especially the Athens area exceeded 2001 levels.

Across the 12 euro-zone countries, average room rates rose by 0.5% to reach 106 euros for the year. The increase in room rates comes despite an estimated 3% overall drop in hotel occupancy.

Athens, says the survey, was the best performing southern euro-zone city with revPAR up an impressive 5%, fuelled by a 2% increase in occupancy combined with a 3% growth in average room rate.

And while 2003 may in fact be a difficult year because of a weak international economy and conflicts in the Middle East, the Attica region should again do well because of the run-up to the 2004 Games. Next year, of course, is another story for the region. Most hotels have already booked the majority of their rooms at good prices and rooms that have not been booked are going at extremely high rates.