New hotels build on Athens tourism growth
The momentum that Athens tourism has attained in the last three years has mobilized private capital and seen the opening of new five-star hotels in the capital’s center.
The swing from the negative climate of the 2008-2013 period, when 89 hotels shut down, required the cooperation of local authorities and hoteliers’ associations, the Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises (SETE), Aegean Air and Athens International Airport, with air arrivals from abroad rising 60 percent in the last three years.
Three major hotels opened this summer in Athens, resulting also in the creation of jobs. On Mitropoleos Street, the new five-star, 216-room Electra Metropolis Hotel opened in the building that used to house the Education Ministry, an investment of over 15 million euros.
Omonia Square welcomed the Athens Tiare Hotel, with 111 rooms, while further away from the city center, on Syngrou Avenue, the 94-room Athens Avenue Hotel opened its doors. Add to those five-star units a number of smaller arrivals, including some boutique hotels.
The next luxurious hotel arrival is expected on December 1, when the Wyndham Grand Athens will launch. It is a member of the Wyndham Hotel Group, one of the biggest hotel chains internationally, with a portfolio of 8,000 units in 73 countries. This new hotel on Karaiskaki Square, just west of Omonia, will have 276 rooms and 2,500 square meters of conference and function space. Also on Mitropoleos Street, the Daskalantonakis Group, is gearing up to open a hotel in the old Hytiroglou textiles store.
