Winter resorts’ fragile recovery

Provisional bookings data from the majority of Greek winter resorts are currently showing signs of a fragile recovery this year.

Given that most of them only operate on Saturdays and Sundays and the three long weekends of the winter period, as well as the two weeks of the Christmas period, it is clear that any deterioration in the mood of potential visitors due to the pandemic could derail their plans in terms of occupancy rates.

For the time being, bookings for the festive season – the peak for this segment of the market – average at 30-35%, while two years ago that rate had stood at 70%.

Before the pandemic the average occupancy rate at weekends used to come close to 90-95%, but this year it does not look like it will exceed 50-60%. Projecting that to the entire month shows a rate of 10-15% in 2021, against about 40% in 2019.

This is the picture that the heads of the Drama Hotel Association, Angelos Kallias, and Hotel Owners’ Association of Magnesia, Giorgos Zafeiris, have conveyed to Kathimerini. They express some optimism that Christmas bookings will gradually increase, though not to the pre-pandemic levels and provided that no new restrictions are introduced for travelers, like last winter.