Study: Greek Tourism Season Extension Still Moving Slow
The extension of the Greek tourism season is still moving at a slow pace, the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (HCH) said on Monday.
According to data from a study by the Institute for Tourism Research and Forecasts (ITEP), seasonal hotels last year stayed open 5.7 months on average, showing only a slight difference compared to 2022 (5.6 months).
ITEP’s data shows that only Greece’s high-category seasonal hotels were able to keep occupancy numbers at a high level during the “extension months” of May and October over the last two years.
The chamber’s president, Alexandros Vassilikos, said that the lack of infrastructure is the main reason why plans to extend the tourist season beyond October-November have not been met entirely.
“This is an effort that has been going on for decades and the solution has nothing to do with the operating model of hotels,” Vassilikos told journalists during a press conference.
Referring specifically to Athens, the chamber’s president stressed that the Greek city is the only European capital with the largest change in tourist flows between winter and summer season.
“This is because infrastructure has not been created, for example, to support conference tourism… We will not go far in extending the season if infrastructure is not improved,” Vassilikos said, highlighting that whatever hoteliers are called to do to help the situation they will do it.
The potential to extend the season ‘is there’
While presenting that data, ITEP General Director Giorgos Petrakos said that the potential for the extension of the tourism season “is there”, noting slight rises in the average occupancy of hotels during the months of May (53 percent in 2023 from 47 percent in 2022) and October (49 percent in 2023 from 44 percent in 2022).
This same conclusion, said Petrakos, is reinforced by the fact that in the months of May and October, there was an increase in the average price of a double room by approximately 11 percent between the years 2023 and 2022.
“Nevertheless, two parameters must be taken into account,” Petrakos said, highlighting that on an annual basis half of the rooms of Greek hotels were available at a price below 130 euros.
“Secondly, during the months of May and October, the increased occupancy concerned mainly the hotels of the larger categories,” he added.
According to the data, during the “extension months”, occupancy remained low for hotels of one- (28 percent in May and 20 percent in October) and two-stars (39 percent in May 39 and 31 percent in October).
Turnover rises in 2023
Moreover, ITEP’s data showed that hotel turnover in 2023 saw a 23 percent increase and reached 10.5 billion euros – mainly thanks to seasonal hotels, whose revenue grew by 27.4 percent. Greek hotels open all year round saw a revenue increase of 9.4 percent.
Employment picks up but staff shortage remains
In terms of employment, hiring rates in Greek hotels last year increased by 12.6 percent compared to the previous year. A total of 208,000 jobs in Greek hotels were covered, compared to 185,000 in 2022. However, thousands of unfilled positions still exist.
Petrakos informed that – based on ITEP’s research among hoteliers – at least another 30,000 jobs in the hotel industry must be filled immediately.
ITEP’s last survey regarding the staff shortage in the Greek hotel industry, showed that 53,229 positions remained unfilled nationwide last year.
HCH President: Challenges still loom
Commenting on the survey’s data, the chamber’s president, Alexandros Vassilikos, said that the increase in turnover and employment at Greek hotels last year is also linked to investments by hoteliers which for 2023 totaled 761 million and 13 percent of them were related to sustainability actions.
“Of course, finding staff, energy costs and overall operating costs, reduced occupancy outside of peak months and competition from short-term rental accommodation, are still problems for the industry,” Vassilikos stressed.
The chamber’s president added that the Greek tourism product is on a steady course and continues to be at the forefront of Greece’s economy.
“Greek hotels continue their great offer to the country, which is shown by the 2.5 billion euros for upgrade investments made by hoteliers in the last five years so that today we can present this data on an increase in turnover and employment,” he said.
“So we are on the right track, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t big challenges,” Vassilikos concluded, adding that tourism is a field of cooperation and collective action.
they were never winter flights to Corfu. When I worked in Crete in the late 70s the season ran from early March to mid November. It is always the hoteliers blaming lack of flights, and the airlines blaming lack of suitable accommodation. Why doesn’t the government help by subsidising early /late season for airlines with substantially reduced landing fees or incentives, and subsidising accommodation with concessions for those who open all season or at least earlier and later. It is time the government helped at least initially, instead of expecting Airlines and accommodation owners to bear the brunt. I do remember one year when Ryanair had a planned program from the UK to Greece all through the winter based on operating fee subsidies from Greek airports.
These were not forthcoming so the program was cancelled . I’m not holding my breath For any changes, we’ve heard it so many times.
I have been speaking to restaurant owners, hotel managers and an airline on the island of Kefalonia and it seems that it is a problem that is 50/50.
The restaurants and hotels do not want to open beyond the start of October or earlier than May due to the fact that the airlines do not fly in at these times. The airlines state that they have tried to extend the season, however, due to the fact that most places open late/close early the demand does not warrant the flights!
Interesting reading as always, back in early 70s Greece was open all year round, Athens, Rhodes, Crete and Corfu and there were winter cruises with Epirotiki Lines to Cyclades stopping at Mykonou also!…. How did they manage to sell these?…I was working with the Holiday Tour Operater from UK!