The first half of 2023 registered positive results for the tourism sector overall - Total international airport arrivals increased by 9.8% YTD June 2023 / 2022, while compared to 2019 a growth of 0.8% was recorded
GBR’s revenue index for the Greek hotel sector, which includes city hotels and a limited number of resort hotels during Q1, recorded for Q1 2023/2019 an increase 9.3%, but a decline of 4.9% in room nights.
In line with the drop of international arrivals our monthly hotel performance survey on the performance of the Greek hotel sector showed a decline of room nights sold by 10.1% during 2022 compared to 2019.
The Greek hotel sector showed during Q3 2022 a decline of the number of room nights of 5 – 7%, while the revenue index showed an increase of 19% compared to the same period of 2019.
After a slow start of 2022, demand picked up but with big differences in geographic markets. During H1 2022 the total number of hotel room nights declined 17.4%, while revenue in 2022 outperformed 2019 levels as from May. YTD June 2022 revenue increased 3.5% compared to same period in 2019.
The cities of Athens and Thessaloniki have commenced their recovery. Domestic traffic at the Athens International Airport is recovering faster than the international traffic, reaching a level of 78% and 70% respectively of 2019 for the month of March.
The number of rooms in operation during 2021 in both the Athens and Thessaloniki market reached a level of 79% compared to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. At the beginning of 2021 many hotels remained closed and slowly opened up after the announcement of the Greek Government on May 14th 2021 to open up tourism. During the last quarter of 2021 both markets operated at full capacity.
Data up to September shows that the Athens and Thessaloniki hotel markets recovered to a level of 39% in terms of room nights compared to the same period of 2019. Room supply has been restored to pre-pandemic levels.
After the opening of tourism in mid May 2021, the tourism industry slowly commenced its recovery. International arrivals at Greece’s main airports in June 2021 did not exceed a level of 35% of 2019. This is in line with our room night trend analysis, which shows that Greek hotels reached a level of 38% in June 2021 compared to June 2019: 43% in Athens & Thessaloniki, 35% at resort hotels.
The hotel revenue index indicated a decline of 89.5% during the Q1 2021 compared to Q1 2019. About 49% of all city hotels in Greece were in operation in Greece during the first quarter, but with hardly any demand, while with a few exceptions the resort hotel sector was closed.