Study: Greek Tourism Season Extension Still Moving Slow

ITEP President Konstantina Svinou, Hellenic Chamber of Hotels President Alexandros Vassilikos and ITEP General Director Giorgos Petrakos.

The extension of the Greek tourism season is still moving at a slow pace, the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (HCH) said on Monday.

According to data from a study by the Institute for Tourism Research and Forecasts (ITEP), seasonal hotels last year stayed open 5.7 months on average, showing only a slight difference compared to 2022 (5.6 months).

ITEP’s data shows that only Greece’s high-category seasonal hotels were able to keep occupancy numbers at a high level during the “extension months” of May and October over the last two years.

The chamber’s president, Alexandros Vassilikos, said that the lack of infrastructure is the main reason why plans to extend the tourist season beyond October-November have not been met entirely.

“This is an effort that has been going on for decades and the solution has nothing to do with the operating model of hotels,” Vassilikos told journalists during a press conference.

Referring specifically to Athens, the chamber’s president stressed that the Greek city is the only European capital with the largest change in tourist flows between winter and summer season.

“This is because infrastructure has not been created, for example, to support conference tourism… We will not go far in extending the season if infrastructure is not improved,” Vassilikos said, highlighting that whatever hoteliers are called to do to help the situation they will do it.

The potential to extend the season ‘is there’

While presenting that data, ITEP General Director Giorgos Petrakos said that the potential for the extension of the tourism season “is there”, noting slight rises in the average occupancy of hotels during the months of May (53 percent in 2023 from 47 percent in 2022) and October (49 percent in 2023 from 44 percent in 2022).

This same conclusion, said Petrakos, is reinforced by the fact that in the months of May and October, there was an increase in the average price of a double room by approximately 11 percent between the years 2023 and 2022.

“Nevertheless, two parameters must be taken into account,” Petrakos said, highlighting that on an annual basis half of the rooms of Greek hotels were available at a price below 130 euros.

“Secondly, during the months of May and October, the increased occupancy concerned mainly the hotels of the larger categories,” he added.

According to the data, during the “extension months”, occupancy remained low for hotels of one- (28 percent in May and 20 percent in October) and two-stars (39 percent in May 39 and 31 percent in October).

Turnover rises in 2023

ITEP General Director Giorgos Petrakos presenting the data on the turnover of Greek hotels in 2023.

Moreover, ITEP’s data showed that hotel turnover in 2023 saw a 23 percent increase and reached 10.5 billion euros – mainly thanks to seasonal hotels, whose revenue grew by 27.4 percent. Greek hotels open all year round saw a revenue increase of 9.4 percent.

Employment picks up but staff shortage remains

In terms of employment, hiring rates in Greek hotels last year increased by 12.6 percent compared to the previous year. A total of 208,000 jobs in Greek hotels were covered, compared to 185,000 in 2022. However, thousands of unfilled positions still exist.

Petrakos informed that – based on ITEP’s research among hoteliers – at least another 30,000 jobs in the hotel industry must be filled immediately.

ITEP’s last survey regarding the staff shortage in the Greek hotel industry, showed that 53,229 positions remained unfilled nationwide last year.

HCH President: Challenges still loom

Commenting on the survey’s data, the chamber’s president, Alexandros Vassilikos, said that the increase in turnover and employment at Greek hotels last year is also linked to investments by hoteliers which for 2023 totaled 761 million and 13 percent of them were related to sustainability actions.

“Of course, finding staff, energy costs and overall operating costs, reduced occupancy outside of peak months and competition from short-term rental accommodation, are still problems for the industry,” Vassilikos stressed.

ITEP General Director Giorgos Petrakos referring to the main challenges Greek hotels faced in 2023.

The chamber’s president added that the Greek tourism product is on a steady course and continues to be at the forefront of Greece’s economy.

“Greek hotels continue their great offer to the country, which is shown by the 2.5 billion euros for upgrade investments made by hoteliers in the last five years so that today we can present this data on an increase in turnover and employment,” he said.

“So we are on the right track, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t big challenges,” Vassilikos concluded, adding that tourism is a field of cooperation and collective action.