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Athens Hotel Market On Its Way To Recovery

Athens viewThe hotel market in Athens is bullish for 2014 following a significant performance improvement last year, according to a report by STR Global and GBR Consulting.

Athens_20140408_chart2The impact of the Greek crisis on the Athens tourism industry in the 2010-2013 period was significant with a total estimated loss of 2.5 billion euros for the sector as a whole, of which 820 million euros was for the Athens hotels.

Athens especially took a hard hit in the period between 2007 and 2012, during which international arrivals at the Athens International Airport dropped steadily, while they recovered slightly in 2013.

“In 2013 the drop bottomed out primarily due to a recovery in leisure tourism, and as from April onward, occupancy levels improved significantly compared to 2012, while room rates stabilized,” according to the report. Occupancy rose seven percent in 2013 to 56.8 percent.

As a result of the occupancy increase, revenue per available room (RevPAR) improved significantly. RevPAR for the market increased 7.9 percent to 53.89 euros.

The biggest increase in RevPAR was achieved by the 5-star sector at 13.5 percent, followed by the 3-star segment at 11.4 percent, while the 4-star segment achieved a minor improvement of 2.7 percent over 2013.

Based on the 2014 Q1 Hospitality Barometer of GBR Consulting, Athenian hoteliers are expecting significant increases in occupancy and room rate levels in 2014 compared to a year earlier.

Athens_20140408_chart12Outlook

Athens_20140408_chart4“The fall of the Athens tourism industry came to an end in 2013 with increases in arrivals and significant improvements in occupancy levels. The main contributors were that riots disappeared from the streets, and headlines with respect to the Greek economy disappeared from the front pages of international newspapers,” STR Global and GBR Consulting said in the report.

Recently, these have been replaced by some positive news regarding the economic situation and the economic outlook. If this can be maintained, leisure tourism is expected to recover further as data shows that Athens is a very attractive city break destination, based on the high satisfaction ratings of visitors. Recovery will be confirmed once the conference and incentive market returns to Athens.

Today the city of Athens and suburb Athens have 227 hotels with a total of 15,049 rooms, with more than half of the rooms offered in the 4- and 5-star categories.

2013 was a record year overall for Greek tourism with 17.5 million international tourists visiting the country, bringing in an estimated 11.5 billion euros ($15.8 billion) in revenue. For 2014 the Greek tourism sector is aiming at 18 million international tourist arrivals and 13 billion euros ($17.9 billion) of revenue.

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