Greek Hotels Gain from Carnival Season Bookings

Arachova. Photo © Maria Theofanopoulou / Greek Travel Pages

Major Greek carnival destinations are expected to mark the beginning of a strong tourism season with increasing bookings for the three-day Clean Monday holiday next week.

Domestic tourism appears to be showing signs of recovery with hoteliers at the popular ski destinations of Arachova and Kalavryta expecting occupancy rates to reach 80 percent. Tourism to the region of Magnesia, which includes favorites like Volos and Pelion, is also expected to pick up during the Clean Monday holiday, which marks the end of Carnival season and the beginning of Lent.

In the meantime, traditional carnival destinations like Zakynthos and Drama are taking a blow due to a garbage collection strike in the former repeated road blocks by protesting farmers.

“Demand plummeted when roadblocks were set up. At the moment, bookings are at 50 percent and we do not expect occupancy levels to exceed 60 percent,” Drama Hotel Association President Angelos Kallias told Greek daily Naftemporiki.

On Zakynthos meanwhile, many of the carnival events have been cancelled because of the garbage collection problem.