“Calm and waiting” characterizes the attitude of the hotel world of Greece, after the recent developments in Ukraine. At the moment, there are no cancellations of tourist packages for Greece, but the current situation could potentially become a problem.
As the president of the Hotel Chamber of Greece, Alexandros Vasilikos, emphasizes in APE – MPE, “obviously the situation in Ukraine frightens anyone, as it happens in any difficult situation”. The FDI is calmly following the developments closely, with Mr. Vasilikos unfolding the three levels at which the eyes of the industry experts have fallen.
Rising energy costs are the first effect of the crisis on hotels
The big issue for the country’s hotels is the increase in their energy operating costs. “Whatever happens or does not happen in Ukraine from now on, Greece and its hotel industry are already paying for it and will pay for it in the future,” said Mr. Vasilikos, referring to the spike in energy prices. Of course, he believes that this will not affect the competitiveness of the country’s tourism product, as it is a European issue that concerns everyone.
Problem for those hoteliers who have exclusive contracts with Russian TO’s
Focusing on tourist flows to Greece, the current conflict is sure to affect any flows planned by Russia and Ukraine for this year. At this point, Mr. Vasilikos notes that in recent years the flows from Russia and Ukraine have not been large. “Even in the best years, less than 1 million visitors from Russia to Greece did not arrive,” said Mr. Vasilikos, adding that with the fall of the Turkish lyre, it was predicted that the Russians would go to Turkey this year. ”
The problem, however, is found in some hoteliers who have exclusive contracts with Russians, Mr. Vasilikos emphasizes, but expresses his belief that they will have time to restructure the markets that will be addressed to attract customers.
It will “hurt” the tourist income if there is a problem with the tourist flows from the USA
On the other hand, the impact of the crisis on Greece will be significant, if the US market is affected, which in recent years and especially last year has stood out. According to Mr. Vasilikos, if the conflict develops differently, it will affect other markets, mainly the USA. As he explains, the Americans will hardly travel to Europe this year if there are unexpected developments. “Because they do not have a clear picture of the geographical distance between Greece and Ukraine” there is a possibility that they will not travel to Europe in general this year.
This will be a development that will “hurt”, says Mr. Vasilikos. It is characteristic that Greece received from the incoming tourism from the USA about 1.2 billion euros in 2019 (6.7% of the total). In fact, the receipts from the USA in the first nine months of 2021 amounted to 47% of the corresponding ones of the first nine months of 2019. For this year, the first new direct flight from the USA, under the new Delta summer program, to land at “Eleftherios Venizelos “on March 7.
Fear that the “small and medium households” will not travel this year
Meanwhile, Nikos Chalkiadakis, president of the Hotel Owners Association of Heraklion, from Crete, which in the past stood out for the increased Russian flows, expressed through APE – MPE his fear, for the economic impact on European households from the current crisis.
As he explains, the economic impact of rising energy costs on middle-class European households could also affect their willingness to vacation this summer. In this context, the hotel association of Heraklion is in constant contact with international organizations, in order to record the new data.
Regarding what is to be born, “the time when we will enter a regularity will also show the evolution of the season, the fact that we are in February is positive because we have a chance to recover by May,” the president said in a recent statement to APE-MPE. of POX Fast Tasios.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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