In Athens, the rise in airport arrivals boosted occupancy rates by 5.9% in Q1 2024/23, accompanied by a 3.9% increase in room prices. Consequently, RevPAR improved by 10%.
The recovery of occupancy levels at Athenian hotels stalled in 2023 with demand for Athens at record levels. Room rates, however, increased significantly as from June 2022. YTD Dec 2023/19 occupancy declined 1.5%, while ADR improved by 29% and as a result RevPAR increased by 27%.
The Athenian hotel sector registered a strong Q3 2023 with stable occupancy levels compared to Q3 2022 and slightly lower levels compared to Q3 2019, but with significant increases in ADR both compared to 2022 and 2019. Year-to-date September 2023/19 occupancy declined 2.4%, while room rates increased by nearly 31%. As a result, RevPAR improved 27.5% YTD September 2023 /19.
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.