At one of the most difficult stages yet of the economic crisis engulfing Greece, which is now in its fifth year of recession, the country’s hotel sector, once one of the world’s most flourishing, is being weighed down by bleak forecasts, particularly amid negative expectations for next summer.
Around 10% of hoteliers have stated their intention to sell their shares through estate agencies, specialised web sites and investment channels, as Giorgios Tsakiris, the head of the Greek Chamber of Hotels, has explained to Kathimerini newspaper. This means that around 1,000 hotels in the country, both big and small, are expected to be put up for sale in the near future. Tsakiris also says that the economic crisis and reduced liquidity in the market have aggravated the phenomenon of hoteliers choosing to close rather than to continue the fight for survival, though these factors have made it increasingly difficult to find buyers, even though the average asking price has fallen by 10% in the meantime.
In the central Greek region of Attica, the owners of at least 50 hotels have said that they are looking for a buyer. One of the country’s biggest property companies, meanwhile, already has a portfolio of 22 hotels in Attica, of which Athens is the capital, with the total value reaching 290.6 million euros. Out of the 22, 10 are located in the centre of Athens (including four on or close to Omonia Square), 3 in the Patissia area, and one each in Syntagma, Plaka and Psyrri Squares. The highest price of 95 million euros is for a 385-room hotel close to the now disreputable Omonia Square. The mostly luxury hotels located in the centre of Athens have also seen a fall not only in stays by foreign tourists, as a result of the recent disorder mainly in Syntagma Square, outside the Greek Parliament, but also a complete freeze in conference tourism.
According to estimates supplied by Panayiotis Podimatas, the head of the international company Congress Rental Network (CRN), some 16 conferences and corporate trips booked in various areas of Greece have been cancelled since the start of the year because of fears resulting from strikes and popular protests.
The international conferences and seminars due to be held in a five-star hotel in Athens, but cancelled by organisers, include meetings of companies such as Microsoft, Honeywell and Siemens, with the latter deciding to move its conference to Turkey.
Naturally, the economic crisis has hit not only the hotels in the capital but also those in Salonika, Greece’s second most populous city. There, according to the head of the local association of hoteliers, Aristotelis Thomopoulos, the number of hotels for sale is 18.
(source: Kathimerini, ANSA)
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