Overnight Stays at Thessaloniki Hotels Rise in First Half of Year

Thessaloniki hotels are seeing a rise in the number of overnight stays for the first half of 2017, the Thessaloniki Hotels Association (THA) announced on Wednesday.

According to THA data, for the January-June period the northern port city’s hotels recorded 1,083,551 overnight stays compared to 1,047,161 in the first half of 2016. Of the total, 35,596 stays were booked in cooperation with UNHCR and NGOs and hosted refugees and immigrants from Iraq and Syria.

Greeks still hold the lead with 565,273 overnight stays down by 6.26 percent against the same period last year (603,010), followed by Cypriots with 62,962 stays up by 5.13 percent, tourists from neighboring Turkey with 39,286 stays – a rise of 4.74 percent – and German travelers at 35,935, marking an increase of 29.57 percent compared to last year.

The number of Israeli holidaymakers increased by 63.06 percent with 30,107 overnight stays while US visitors dropped by 2.33 percent to 24,736 stays.

Meanwhile, according to monthly data released by tourism experts GBR Consulting, the average room rate increased by 4.4 percent and relevant revenue (RevPar) by 7.9 percent in the first half of 2017. Despite this however, RevPar continues to be low by European standards at 45.49 euros.