Several hotels in Athens and Thessaloniki are near a financial crunch as the unpaid bills for the hosting of Libyan rebel fighters are now near some 30 million euros, the Greek press said last month.
Athens’ hotel occupancy in February caused optimism, but also concern, to hoteliers as overnights in five- and four-star hotels recorded an increase while two- and three-star hotels saw a significant decrease.
Any election period and political instability in general is negative for tourism, which in the center of Athens is up against a decrease of 20 percent or more in revenues, the president of the Athens-Attica Hotel Association, Yiannis Retsos, recently told the Greek press.
