Study: Fire – Flood Toll on Thessaly, Rhodes Hoteliers Reaches €96m

Damages on Skiathos (Sporades islands) after the floods in early September. Photo source: Municipality of Skiathos

Greek hoteliers in Thessaly and on Rhodes suffered 96 million euros in losses as a result of floods and fires this year, according to a study released by the Institute of Tourism Research and Forecasts (ITEP) during the general assembly of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (HCH).

In Thessaly, 189,000 night stays as well as dozens of events were cancelled after Storm Daniel, leading to a  22.4-million-euros plunge in revenues. According to the findings, the Magnesia region was impacted the most accounting for 78 percent of all cancellations. The Sporades islands followed with 14% of cancelations, Karditsa and Trikala (3%), and Larissa (1%).

Initially, Thessaly hoteliers were expecting a 10 percent rise in turnover for 2023 but after the floods in September, revenue are set to drop by 10% compared to 2022 with one-fourth of hotels in the region not reopening until the end of the year.

On Rhodes, local hoteliers are expecting losses caused by the fires in July to reach 73 million euros. Rhodes managed, however, to recover quickly despite cancellations at the peak of the season. Indicatively, occupancy in August was at 86 percent compared to 94% in the same month a year earlier.

Occupancy levels began to pick up in the second week of August reaching 74.2% compared 91.7% in parts of the island that were not affected by the fires. Of the total number of hotels on Rhodes, 17 percent were located in the areas affected by the fires that burned for days.