Optimism Shrinks in Greek Hotel Sector

The reasons for the lack of optimism include the capital controls imposed on Greek banks and the government’s agreement to tax hikes in the tourism sector, which were among a list of prior actions as a precursor to negotiating a third bailout program of 86 billion euros with the country’s international creditors.

According to GBR, while the barometers of Q1 2015 showed expectations for strong performance improvements in 2015, the barometers for Q3 2015 show falling occupancy rates and stabilising room rates.

However, the barometer shows that city hoteliers remain optimistic, especially in terms of room rate development as they forecast significant improvements this coming quarter compared to last year. Occupancy levels are expected to stabilise as only mild increases are forecasted for Q3.
On the other hand, resort hoteliers have become clearly pessimistic, GBR’s report shows. They forecast significant drops in demand with sharply dropping occupancy levels as a result. Room rates are expected to decrease for their own hotel units, but a significant drop is forecasted for the market in general.

The analysis per hotel category shows that the 5-star hoteliers are optimistic as far as their own hotel units are concerned, but for the 5-star sector overall they have forecasted falling occupancy and room rates. The 4-star sector remains mildly optimistic with some improvements in the performance indicators, while the 3-star sector is clearly pessimistic with barometers showing significant drops at all levels the coming quarter.
The GBR Consulting Barometer is a regular survey that gives insight on the Greek hotel industry’s opinions on current issues as well as expectations about occupancy and average room rate (ARR).