Thessaloniki’s Hotels See Drop in Overnight Stays

Photo source: Thessaloniki Hotels Association

Overnight stays in hotels in Thessaloniki dropped by 16,486 in the first half of 2019, the Thessaloniki Hotels Association said on Tuesday.

According to an announcement, 1,099,095 overnight stays in the Greek northern city were recorded during January-June, against 1,115,581 in the corresponding period of 2018.

“The statistics concerning the visits of Greek and foreign tourists in the first half of 2019 have caused the concern of the hoteliers of Thessaloniki, the association said.

Average room rate grows slightly

Photo source: Thessaloniki Hotels Association

According to the monthly survey carried out by GBR Consulting on behalf of the association, the average room rate (ARR) of the city’s hotels saw a marginal increase of 2.6 percent in the first half of 2019. Revenue per available room (RevPar) also slightly rose by 1.8 percent to 50.33 euros.

Meanwhile, GBR’s survey showed that Thessaloniki remains last in terms of occupancy levels, ARR, and RevPar compared to 10 rival European city destinations, namely Antwerp, Birmingham, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Budapest, Hamburg, Manchester, Salzburg.

Less Greeks go to Thessaloniki in 1HY

In regards to the overnight stays of visitors, Thessaloniki’s hotels saw less Greek visitors during the first half of the year – down by 4.54 percent to 548,545  compared to 574,640 during the same period in 2018. The association attributed the drop to the European and national elections in May and June, “although the downward trend was apparent from the first months of the year”.

Regarding foreign visitors, Israeli travelers for the second year topped the list of overnight stays in the city’s hotels with a 7.88 percent rise in the first half of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. Visitors from Cyprus once again came in second despite a 16.41 percent drop to 53,542 from 64,054 last year, and were followed by the Germans with a 2.09 percent rise to 40,186 from 39,364 in 2018. Moving up on the list were travelers from the United States with a 7.46 percent rise to 35,992 from 33,494, and were followed by visitors from Italy (down by 14.07 percent), Bulgaria (up by 9.61 percent), Turkey (down by 20.30 percent), Romania (up by 2.25 percent) and Russia (down by 5.55 percent).

The top 10 list of foreign visitors to Thessaloniki in terms of overnight stays wrapped up with visitors from the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) that recorded a drop of 8.55 percent.

Moreover, the Thessaloniki Hotels Association brought attention to the “spectacular” increase in the overnights stays of citizens from Asian countries by 484.11 percent, during the first six months of the year.

According to the association, the overnight stays in Thessaloniki of citizens from Asian countries during January – June reached 18,493 from 3.166 during the corresponding period of 2018.

“This increase is due to the rise of immigrants and refugees in Thessaloniki, who resided at hotels through the international immigration programs,” the association underlined.