Greek hotels lost three billion euros during the two years of the pandemic

Her Vicky Kourlibini

Hotel revenues were reduced by 35% last year compared to 2019, a record year for Greek tourism, before the outbreak of the pandemic. Speaking in numbers, hotel revenues were estimated at 5.5 billion euros in 2021, when in 2019 the total turnover of the domestic hotel was 8.4 billion.

This is just one of the data that show the heavy footprint of Covid in the Greek tourism market and is included in the special edition – report 2021 of the statistical bulletin of the Institute of the Hellenic Tourism Business Association, which records the tourism figures of 2021.

According to INSETE data, in 5-star hotels the revenue in 2021 was 2.8 billion compared to 3 billion in 2019, recording a decrease of 8.4%. In the 4-star category there was a decrease of 45.8% with the turnover in 2021 amounting to 1.5 billion compared to 2.8 billion in 2019. In the 3-star category there was a decrease of 49.4% with the turnover amounting to 697 last year million compared to 1.4 billion in 2019. The largest percentage decrease was recorded in the 2-star category with the turnover decreasing by 63.1%, while finally in the 1-star category a decrease of 49.2% was recorded.

Change of income in selected accommodations, best month is August

In 2021 there was a decrease in revenues of 33.1% compared to 2019. In all months there was a decrease. In particular, a decrease was recorded in January by 89.1% and in February 89.7%. The largest decrease was recorded in March by 89.6% and in April by 94.6%. In May, the recovery began while a decrease of 81.9% was recorded and in June by 53.7%. In July the decrease amounted to only 16.4%, in August only to 2% while in September 6.6%. Finally, a decrease of 7.2% was recorded in October, -42.1% in November and 57.1% in December.

Fall in arrivals and overnight

At the same time, in the period January-September 2021, in the total of hotel type accommodation and camping there is a decrease in arrivals by 51.2% compared to 2019. Specifically, the arrivals of foreigners show a decrease of 54.2% and of domestic ones by 42.2% respectively, in relation to the data of the same period of the year 2019. The largest share of arrivals in hotel type accommodation and camping during the review corresponds to foreign tourists, ie 8.1 million, while the Greek visitors correspond 3.4 million arrivals.

During the same period, in all hotel type accommodation and camping there is a decrease in overnight stays by 51.3%. Specifically, during the period January-September 2021, overnight stays of foreigners show a decrease of 53.9% and of locals by 36.1% respectively, compared to the data of the same period of the year 2019. The largest share of overnight stays in accommodation hotel type and camping during the period January – September 2021, corresponds to foreigners, ie 38.9 million while the natives correspond to 9.3 million overnight stays.

The basket of the season

Globally, as noted in the INSETE statistical bulletin, international tourist arrivals increased by 4% last year compared to 2020, however they remained by 72% below the levels of 2019. The performance of Greek tourism was better, however, with the incoming travel traffic decreased by 53.1% compared to 2019 (14.7 million arrivals in 2021 compared to 31.3 million arrivals in 2019). Furthermore, travel receipts showed a significantly smaller decrease by 41.4% compared to 2019 and amounted to 10.7 billion euros compared to 18.2 billion in 2019, due to the increase in Average Per Capita Expenditure (NPV) by 27 % compared to 2019.

This is due, among other things, to a change in the mix of arrivals in favor of international air arrivals which decreased by 41.2% compared to 2019 (12.6 million in 2021 compared to 21.5 million in 2019) and ferry arrivals from Italy which decreased by 35% in (980 thousand in 2021 compared to 1.5 million in 2019) while road arrivals – which have the lowest MKD – decreased by 67.9% (4 million in 2021 compared to 12.3 million in 2019).