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Hotel Owners Association of Athens, Attica and Argosaronikos

The issues of health, safety and security of citizens and visitors, and especially the issues of supporting the Athens economy, require great attention and special handling.

The Athens Hotel Association of Attica and Argosaronikos focuses on the special attention that should be paid to Athens as the European capital of millions of inhabitants and as an important international gateway to Greece. Athens is the recipient of the largest volume of arrivals and at the same time it is a city-point of attraction of particular tourist interest.

EXAAA stresses the need for a common crisis management strategy, with appropriate preparation for each situation as it will arise on the “next day”.

The common goal and purpose of all must be the survival of tourism, business and employment.

Unprecedented drop in occupancy rates in Athens hotels

due to

covid

-19

The 7-month period January-July 2020 for Athens hotels closed with a drop of (-)49.2% in Occupancy, (-)62.0% in Revenue per Available Room (RevPar) and (-)25.2% in Average Room Rate. According to the monthly reports of EXAAA and GBR Consulting and hotel traffic and performance data, hotel occupancy ‘closed’ negatively throughout 2020:
From mid-February 2020, the dramatic impact of the emerging covid-19 pandemic on hotel occupancy, demand, bookings and reservations from all markets, business tourism and the organisation of conferences, corporate meetings and events became apparent.
The months of April and May were known to be the months of ‘lockdown’ and ‘closed’ hotels, except for those designated by the state to operate per regional unit. From 1 June 2020, hotels of 12-month operation could be reopened, something that -very justifiably- was not implemented in all the units of Attica.

As the figures (*) show, although (a) the number of hotels/beds in operation in Attica that attracted the interest of demand was impressively limited compared to 2019 (by at least 35% – 40%), although (b) international air connections gradually returned, although (c) Greece won the bet – and the comparative advantage – of being a safe tourist destination in time, both June and July 2020 proved to be absolutely disappointing for hotels in Athens-Attica:
The average occupancy rate did not exceed 25.7% for June 2020 and 36.5% for July 2020, which corresponds to a sharp drop in occupancy compared to the corresponding months of 2019, of (-)72.3% and (-)59.3% respectively. There was also an impressive drop of (-)79.0% and (-)76.7% in revenue per available room (ReVpar) and average room rate, by (-)24.0% and (-)42.7% respectively.

The competing cities

The data on competitor cities (**) are also interesting. Athens, London, Madrid and Istanbul proved to be the only cities/destinations with a 50% (+/-) drop in occupancy in 2020. The other cities experienced an even bigger drop in occupancy in 2020. Indicative examples are Rome (-66.5%), Barcelona (-61.2%) and Vienna (-60.3%). However, Athens showed the largest drop (-25.2%) in average room rate (ADR) against all.

EXAAA points out once again that Athens as the European capital of millions of inhabitants, as the most important international gateway of the country, as the recipient of the largest volume of arrivals, but also as a pole of attraction of particular tourist interest, always, but especially now, deserves special attention:

The issues of health, safety and security of citizens and tourists, as well as the issues of supporting the economy of our city, require extreme care, delicate handling and all our eyes on the ‘next day’.
It is recalled that declining trends in hotel occupancy have been recorded since the end of 2018 (pre-covid-19 era) and then, the phenomena were not related to the global health problem facing the modern world today, but to wrong policies adopted in the management of tourism development and allowed the oversupply of beds of all types in Athens – and not only in Athens.
The ‘next day’, which is not known exactly ‘when and how’ it will dawn for everyone, unfortunately, poses serious risks for the demand of the destination and therefore for the survival of businesses and people who ‘live’ from tourism. There is a fear of serious upheaval in the landscape of bed capacity in the city, Entrepreneurship, and Jobs.
It is therefore necessary to have a common ‘crisis management strategy’ in time, to be prepared for the ‘worst case scenario’ and to have a common purpose and objective for the survival of Tourism, Business and Employment.