Greek Hotel Market Sees Slight Decrease in 2019, Says MKG

Although hotels in European Mediterranean countries ended 2019 with growth, Greece experienced a slight downturn last year in terms of RevPAR and occupancy rate.

According to recent data provided by MKG Group, the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook had an impact on Greek hoteliers as the UK tour operator was well established in the country. “Resort hotels suffered from a default in payment and some of them lost more than a half of their turnover,” MKG said.

Monthly performance Greek market, 2019

Greece evolution in Occupation Rate

Moreover, MKG’s data showed that a very stable occupancy has been registered in Greece from 2016 to 2019. The Occupancy Rate (OR) of the Greek hotel supply has just slightly changed over the whole period. It goes from 68 percent in 2016 up to 72 percent in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, it decreased a little, down -1 percentage point to 71 percent, mostly due to European economic and political changes.

Greece evolution in Average Daily Rate and RevPAR

The Average Daily Rate (ADR) of hotels in Greece kept increasing from 2016 to 2019, according to MKG. It went from 99,33 euros, excluding VAT in 2016 up to 121,38 euros excluding VAT in 2019.

The year 2017 marked the period with the highest change in ADR (+11,1% percent. The year after also had a raise in ADR (+9,1 percent) whereas in 2019, the ADR was stable (+0,9 percent). This led to a double-digit change in revenue per available room (RevPAR) in 2017 (+18,1 percent). The RevPAR had a slower evolution in 2018 (+8,8 percent) and a negative one in 2019 (-0,8 percent) at 86,21 euros excluding VAT.

European hotel industry

MKG’s data showed that almost all markets registered positive results in 2019. The highest RevPAR change goes to Austria (+7.6 percent), thanks to strong activity in Vienna, its capital. Hungary and Belgium hold the second and third place with respective RevPAR increases of +7.1 percent and +6.1 percent. Italy, Spain and Portugal follow with a RevPAR up by +5 percent.

Moreover, France and Germany had a contrasting year. The French market suffered from social movements that affected mostly Paris but also some other major cities. However, the month of June was very good with several international events such as the Women’s Soccer World Cup. Germany’s market registered a slight increase in RevPAR (+1.9 percent), thanks mainly to growth in ADR (+1.4 percent).

The Netherlands produced a negative result (-0.5 percent) after several years of strong growth. The VAT changed from 6 percent to 9 percent in 2019, which explains why Dutch market is the only one to have a drop in ADR.

Based in Paris, France, MKG Group operates various divisions within the tourism, hotel and hospitality sector, namely monitoring global trends in supply, demand and pipeline growth.