Hospitality News

Overnight stays in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, recorded a 15.68 percent increase during the first half of 2014 compared to last year, the Thessaloniki Hotels Association said on 30 July.

Crete is one of Greece’s most attractive destinations as one in five tourists arrive in the country to vacation on the island, recent data has shown.

Average room rates in hotels in Athens, Greece, were 2.7 percent higher in the first five months of the year and reached 77 euros from 74.97 euros in 2013, according to the president of the Athens-Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association, Alexandros Vassilikos.

Greek hotels that offer equal hospitality services for all guests were honored at the “Accessibility Pass” official launch event on 18 June in Athens.

“Athens is and remains the most inexpensive capital city in Europe based on benchmarking data,” the Athens-Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association said in response to recent reports concerning rising hotel prices in the Greek capital.

Greece will showcase its architectural heritage to the world at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition “La Biennale di Venezia,” which officially opens on 7 June in Venice, Italy.

The Hellenic Federation of Hoteliers’ proposal for the establishment of a new annual school holiday period in Greece, so families could take a vacation during the winter, will not launch in 2015 after all.

Greek tourism professionals recently pointed out that investments for high class hotels must be made in Greece for the country to keep pace with expected growth.

An abandoned building on Mitropoleos Street, near Syntagma Square in central Athens, that once housed the Greek Education Ministry, will be transformed into a hotel.

Following an impressive increase in arrivals to Greece in 2013, the interest expressed this year for bookings at the country’s rural guesthouses point to even better tourist numbers for 2014, according to the Greek network of rural accommodation, Guest Inn.