The last newsletter of GBR Consulting provides a snapshot of the performance of Greek hotels based on a sample of more than 180 hotels & resorts in Greece. The hotel performance data is complemented by data from other sources so as to place the Greek hospitality industry in the context of Greek tourism and of the International Hospitality Industry.

International arrivals by air really picked up in the second quarter of this year, with Thessaloniki and the rest of Greece seeing substantial increases of 20.9% and 17.0% respectively in Q2, while Athens stabilised. As a result the YTD numbers turned positive as well, while Athens improved from YTD Q1 of -8.3% to -3.0% in YTD Q2.

In terms of RevPAR the developments for Athens and Thessaloniki were also positive with an increase of 8.9% for Athens compared to -4.3% in Q1 and 3.3% for Thessaloniki compared to -11.1% in Q1. The resort hotels opened their doors in Q2 and showed excellent performance with an increase of 12.4% in RevPAR compared to Q2 of 2010, resulting in a YTD of 11.2%. According to the 2011 Q3 Barometer of GBR Consulting, resort hoteliers are bullish for Q3 regarding occupancy, while for ARR prospect the outlook ranges from stable to slightly optimistic.

Compared to the data from the Southern European hotels, it is the first time since this newsletter started being published, that Greek hotel performance compares favourably.

Hotel & Other News
Airotel is one of the few chains continuing to expand in city destinations; it has just opened its 7th hotel in the city of Kavala, 150 room Galaxy Hotel, approximately 1 year after opening the Smart Hotel in Patras. Its expansion plans are based on concepts suitable for the current economic climate. The Porto Hydra resort was acquired by the Restis family (shipowners).

According to a report of the Hellenic Statistical Authority in July 2011 there was a spectacular increase comparing foreign arrivals of Q1 2011 with 2010 from France (+70.5%), Russia (+79.8%) and Turkey (+97.8%), while arrivals from Britain rose by 32.4% and from the US by 16.6%. On the other hand there was a decline of 19.5% in arrivals from Germany and 15.9% from Cyprus.

Besides the increased number of arrivals so far in 2011, one can say that the tourism industry as a whole strengthened in 2011, mainly due to a) the reduction of VAT for hotels, enhancing their competitiveness, b) simplified procedures for travel documents, particularly boosting Russian arrivals and c) partial lifting of restrictions for the cruise industry (albeit, still much needs to be done).

Finally, the BoD of the newly-formed Privatisation Fund of Greece has been appointed. It plans to privatise ~   50 billion euros of publicly owned assets in the next 5 years, the vast majority of which will be real estate assets, many of them of a predominantly tourism character. Among them is the site of the old international Athens airport at Elliniko, plots at Anavyssos in south-eastern Attika, Mesolongi in western Greece, Vathy on the island of Samos, the Kaiafas Springs in the Peloponnese, Prasonisi island  just south of Rhodes etc.