According to the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, Greece's room stock grew by 22.61% between 2000 and 2016. The country currently offers 9,730 hotels with a total of 407,146 rooms (788,553 beds). Over the past 16 years, the country's room stock has grown by 22.6%. Meanwhile, the ever-increasing The tourist flow is forcing the state to think about new investments in the hotel sector.
In recent years, tourism profitability has increased significantly, making it a lucrative investment opportunity. According to the World Tourism Council's long-term forecasts, Greece will need about 5.5 billion by 2023. Euro investments in new hotel capacities and equipment to achieve projected tourism indicators.
As reported by Hhotel Mmanagement Angela Michalopoulou, CEO of Investments at Enterprise Greece, Tourism is a key pillar of the Greek economy, and even during the recent crisis, the tourism industry remained one of the foundations of the country's economic growth and employment.
The Greek government's priorities to expand the tourist season, attract VIP tourists, increase the average daily expenditure of visitors to the country, and open up new tourism markets have created significant opportunities for international investors in many subsectors of the Greek tourism market.
Businessmen from exporting countries, including China, Russia, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Türkiye, the USA and Canada, have been investing in Greece more and more frequently over the past seven years.
The speaker specified as an example, what about 2020? into the country's airport infrastructure in total will be invested 330 million Euro.
In addition, there is a greater penetration of international hotel brands into various types of tourism products.
These events have led local independent hoteliers to intensify their efforts to enhance their market position by joining industry alliances (e.g., Small Luxury Hotels, Leading Hotels of the World). According to 2015 data, the penetration of new global hotel brands in Greece amounted to 6%This is significantly higher than the figures for Italy, Austria, and Switzerland. However, at the same time, there remains room for further development to bring Greece closer to the level of other European countries—Germany, France, and the UK,” she emphasized. Angela Michalopoulou.
By the way, during 2016, a petition was submitted to the Greek government 142 projects for the construction of new and reconstruction of old four- and five-star hotels with a total capacity of more than 300 beds each. Investors showed particular interest in luxury hotels, primarily in the four- and five-star categories, as well as boutique hotels.
This trend has led to an increase in the share of boutique hotels in the domestic hotel market, and the growth prospects for this segment remain positive due to the development of new properties and the modernization of existing ones.
It's worth noting that over the past year, 5* hotels increased their share of the Greek market to 4.6 percent (compared to 11 percent in 2000), 4* hotels added 501 percent to their previous level, and 3* hotels added 371 percent. Meanwhile, 2* and 1* hotels reduced their share of the country's total hotel capacity by 181 percent and 301 percent, respectively (compared to previous figures).
“This shows that Greece is poised to receive significant investment in the tourism sector in the coming years, and more expensive products will become the benchmark, including maritime tourism, both in terms of attracting cruise ships and expanding the yachting offer. Wellness and recreational tourism, spas, golf tourism, and thalassotherapy centers will also be promoted. Medical tourism represents an excellent opportunity for growth. MICE will also be a priority for development," the expert added.
According to the latest data, in 2016 (for the fourth year in a row), Greece sets records in tourist flow, — the country received almost 25 million guests (an increase of 5 percent compared to the previous year). In addition, the state received 13.22 billion euros from tourism, which is 18.6 percent of Greece's GDP.
"At the same time, the continued growth in tourist flow and industry revenues was primarily due to the efforts of the Greek authorities to renew the tourism product. Furthermore, the development of new key markets, including Israel, India, the Middle East, and China, and the strengthening of existing ones—Russia and the United States—had a significant impact." clarified publication expert.
It is worth noting that the Mediterranean Resort & Hotel Real Estate Forum will be held in Tarragona, Spain, from October 16th to 18th, where the prospects for the development of Greek tourism will also be discussed.
Source: trn-news.ru
