Greek Hotels Go Under the Hammer Due to Bad Loans

Tourist arrivals might be booming in Greece, but a large number of tourism businesses which went under during the economic crisis are set to go to the highest bidder in the coming period.

Twelve hotel enterprises are slated for auction in the next two months among some 40 hotels to be sold off in the first half of the year due to defaults on bank loans. According to Kathimerini newspaper, Hydra Beach is set to go under the hammer on March 23 with a starting price at 27.8 million euros.

Investors are eagerly waiting to get their hands on prime hotel businesses including Preveza Beach and Kipriotis Resort, which are also set to be auctioned off or sold in the coming months following weighty non-performing loans.

In the meantime, this has led to peaked demand by large private equity funds which are raising prices on assets for sale.

The Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) is noting that given the sector’s 20 percent contribution to GDP, industry players are not over-indebted, having on the contrary resisted the crisis with continuous growth in the last few years.

According to Bank of Greece data, however, lending to tourism sector ventures accounts for 5.8 percent of all business loans. At the same time, tourism enterprises are demonstrating the fastest rate of decline in the ratio of non-performing loans from 46.5 percent in 2016 to 42.3 percent in 2017.

Other accommodation facilities listed on the government’s auction site scheduled to be put up for auction in the next two months include Akti Amfariou, Alkionis Hotel in Attica, with a starting price of 1.5 million euros, Filia in Komotini (starting at 2.2 million euros), Tzoumerka Hotel, Ptolemeos, and a Pentagiotis Bros hotel in Kammena Vourla.