they will be full hotels and the fortnight of this year vacation in mainland and mountain destinations in Greece, with occupancy reaching 80-90% for the period from December 22 to January 7. The winter season seems to be evolving at the same levels as in previous years, while prices show slight increases of around 3 to 5%.
By Konstantina Haina
The general secretary of the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers and president of the Hoteliers Union of Drama, Mr. Aggelos Kallias spoke to enikos.gr both about this year’s festive traffic, but also about the problems hoteliers face after the holidays, since their businesses remain empty.
Great protagonists and this year it’s the areas with theme parks, like Drama And Trikala. The following are KalavritaTHE ArachovaTHE ArcadiaTHE KarpenisiTHE KalambakaTHE LarisaTHE ImathiaTHE YannèneTHE PelionTHE CopperTHE Holybut also the AlexandroupoliTHE I ride and the Blond.
Next to, traffic is also increased in large urban centers of the country, like Athena and the Thessalonikiwhile also being considered excellent destinations ChaniaTHE Rethymno And Heraklion.
The other, minimal traffic is observed in Thessalymainly in Lake Plastira, due to devastating floods.
Also, there is great interest in visiting ski resorts from Kalavryta, 3-5 wells from N. Imathia, Metsovo, Trikala Corinthia, Parnassos and Vasilitsa.
Pelion is back on the “map” of destinations
Pelion is back on the tourist “map” of winter destinations, which was affected by the devastating and considerable floods that occurred last September in the region. Mr. Kallias, for his part, underlines that there is a recovery in housing.
“Although occupancy reaches 80%, which is only positive, it should be noted that some hotels remain closed, so it makes sense that the others have more people. Some entrepreneurs cannot open their hotels, because there is still a problem of accessibility.”
Foreign destinations
According to the president of the Federation of Travel Agencies, Lysandro Tsilidis who spoke to enikos.gr, tourist packages allocated abroad are reduced by 20% compared to last year, as he says, “The economic measures are not enough for consumers, so they limit their travel. They cannot travel during all the holidays, i.e. 4 times a year, so they must go outside the framework.”
The main choices of Greeks for traveling outside the country’s walls are Italy (Rome, Naples, Milan), h Spain and the Portugal. At the same time, the Greeks will also be present. Londonin the “City of Lights” ParisIn PragueIn BudapestIn Warsaw As good as inside Constantinople.
Also, the interest in traveling to new York and to Los AngelesAt the South-East AsiaIn Latin AmericaAs good as inside Persian with small groups.
How prices fluctuate
Mr. Kallias describes hotel prices during the holiday season as reasonable and maintains that they operate at normal levels, although operating costs, salaries and energy for businessmen are high.
“Of course, our industry has not been able to escape the wave of precision. However, I think that with my colleagues we have managed to keep the prices at a reasonable level, some have set them as low as possible, and we can say that this is visible in the reservations and the occupancy rate of the hotels which are high. Slight increases of around 3 to 5% are observed» States.
Specifically, the price, which is reasonable, changes depending on the facilities and type of hotel. For example, double rooms start from 60-65 euros per night and they can reach eup to 120-140 euros in five-star accommodation, respectively in an apartment rented via Airbnbthe cost can reach up to 200 euros.
For his part, Mr. Tsilidis indicated that for an organized trip to Greece, tourist packages they cost on average 180-280 euroswhile prices for Europe are 500-700 euros.
Exclusively Greek visitors
According to the general secretary of the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers, visitors to tourist areas are exclusively Greeks, who have, however, limited their vacations.
“What we observe is how the Greek limited his vacation, because the cost of travel is high, combined with tolls. Some take one-day or two-day trips close to their city, while those who can travel for 5 days.
40% of hotels in mountainous and mainland Greece are closed Monday to Thursday and open only on Fridays and weekends. »