STR Global: Athens Among Key Market Performers For April 2014

Hotels in Athens, Greece, last month reported the largest increase in occupancy on a European level, according to data released recently by STR Global on the European hotel industry for April 2014.

STR Global benchmarks hotel data for over 6.4 million hotel rooms worldwide.

According to STR Global, the European hotel industry showed mixed results in year-over-year metrics.

“Western and Eastern Europe both reported negative performance in April, while Northern and Southern Europe both reported positive performance for the month,” STR Global’s managing director, Elizabeth Winkle, said.

“In Southern Europe, countries like Greece, Portugal and Spain are posting double-digit growth in April—all coming off lower year-over-year comparisons from April 2013,” Ms. Winkle added.

More specifically, the average occupancy rate of Athenian hotels last month rose by 17.3 percent to 64.9 percent, which was the largest increase on a European level. On the other hand, Istanbul, Turkey, fell 12.2 percent in occupancy to 67.7 percent, posting the largest decrease, followed by Frankfurt, Germany (-10.7 percent to 60.3 percent), and Bratislava, Slovakia (-10.4 percent to  54.5 percent).

Also, the Greek capital’s hotels experienced the second largest revenue per available room (RevPAR) increase of 23.7 percent and reached 59.5 euros, following Tel Aviv (+25.4 percent to 165.28 euros). The largest RevPAR decrease was reported in Moscow, Russia, which fell 26.9 percent in RevPAR to 78.49 euros.

On a European level, the average hotel occupancy was 68.3 percent and the average revenue per room was 69.7 euros in April.

According to the Bank of Greece, international arrivals to Athens increased by 26.1 percent in March alone to 457,000 tourists.

The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) recently said that this year Athens is expected to receive some 750,000 more visitors than 2013.