Two-speed destinations are booked by hoteliers

By Vicky Kourlimbini

Tourism this year, as shown by booking data and growing demand from major overseas markets, is expected to do very well, with industry players returning to pre-pandemic performance. However, at yesterday’s annual regular meeting of the members of the Panhellenic Hoteliers Federation, the concerns for this season were visible. Both the huge energy costs and the losses brought about by the Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as the liabilities accumulated after two years of limited tourism activity due to travel restrictions, as noted, will leave “marks” on the business fund, despite the expected rise in foreign arrivals.

It is characteristic what the president of the Panhellenic Hoteliers Federation, Grigoris Tassios, said in his speech. He stressed that there are losses that will take years to recoup, that not all tourist areas of the country last summer had the same performance as the top popular destinations, nor did the markets for tourism products move horizontally in the same way.

At the same time, according to the report, not all destinations – at least still – record the same dynamics in bookings. Destinations of the Cyclades (Mykonos, Santorini, Paros, Naxos), Crete, Rhodes and Kos, the Ionian Islands (Corfu, Zakynthos) are in high demand and fullness will reach significant percentages, but road destinations in Northern Greece do not follow same course and already note the lag from this year the absence of Russian and Ukrainian tourists.

Large increase in operating costs

The president of POX noted that the recovery of arrivals is not automatically reflected in the recovery of hotel funds. Firstly because a large portion of arrivals are lost in the gray area of ​​the sharing economy. Secondly, because the heavy blow of the pandemic has left open wounds that translate into liabilities to the public and the banks. Third, the Russian-Ukrainian war is exacerbating the situation on a daily basis.

The result is, as he explained, the operating cost per night room is increased by 25-30%.

“The high demand, the arrivals and our determination to do our best for the common good, does not mean that the hotel coffers can be the hens that lay golden eggs. It is not at all so and we should not be carried away by simplifications” said characteristically the president of POX.

Fluid state

“The energy crisis is ahead of us and we may not have seen the tip of the iceberg yet,” said Giannis Retoss, president of the Hellenic Tourism Business Association. But it will be very important for the economy, the country and the society. ”

For his part, the Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias, when asked if Greece manages to have the spectacular results of 2019 in tourism this year, said that any comparison is ungrounded, as this year we are still living in a pandemic regime, we are facing a huge energy crisis and we have a war raging in the heart of Europe. “Does that mean we will not do well or can we do better etc? I think we will do very well. However, any predictions should be made in the light that every week, any political decision is taken in a European or “At the global level, from NATO, from Russia, the data can change. Therefore, it is a year of struggle and enormous effort that obviously, if we do it together, will yield much better results,” he stressed.