Hotels & Accommodations

Hotels in Athens saw no increase in occupancy in the first quarter of the year despite a growth of 6.1 percent in arrivals to the Greek capital during the same period, the Athens-Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association said on Thursday.

The challenges of the hospitality sector took center stage during a meeting of the Corfu Hotels Association on Tuesday, which also revealed the findings of a recent Institute for Tourism Research and Forecasts (ITEP) report for the Ionian Islands.

This year has become a challenging time for the Greek hotel industry with many diverse challenges being thrown its way such as lagging bookings, overtaxation and the “underground economy” created by short-term home rentals, according to the Hellenic Federation of Hoteliers.

Not resting on their laurels, Santorini authorities are putting their money where their mouth is and taking more actions to boost tourism to the world renowned Cycladic island with the establishment of its very own Destination Management Organization (DMO), presented last week at the Santo Wines conference center.

Hellenic Chamber of Hotels President Yiorgos Tsakiris has sought Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ intervention to prevent the rumored new tax on hotel accommodation per night from becoming a reality.

Greece may be showing impressively growing numbers of incoming tourists but Greek hotels don’t seem to be the ones cashing in on the good news, according to the latest report released by Gbr Consulting for the first quarter of the year.

Sabre, a leading technology provider to the global travel industry, recently released its latest research study which examines today’s emerging trends to reveal what travelers will want tomorrow.

The Athens-Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association recently joined forces with the “We do local” initiative in an aim to upgrade the quality of the Greek capital’s tourism product.

Athens hotels have been seeing the numbers of their clientele drop since last fall through to February this year, according to the Athens-Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association.

Overtaxation and the sharing economy are taking a toll on small tourist enterprises with many going under, the president of the Confederation of Greek Entrepreneurs for Tourism Lodges (SETKE), Konstantinos Brentanos, recently said.