Accor, Fosun expand presence in Greece
The Greek hotel market is proving particularly attractive for foreign companies wishing to expand in the sector, French multinational Accor and China’s Fosun Tourism Group set to start operating new units as of 2022. The latter has bought out the activities of Thomas Cook in the sector.
The plans of the two hotel giants, as well as the investment plans of other companies in tourism infrastructure and hotel properties in Greece, confirm once again the momentum that Greek tourism has been gathering since 2013 – not to mention its successful operation over the two seasons of the pandemic, say local industry sources.
Accor’s chairman and CEO, Sebastien Bazin, came to Greece this week for the official launch of Athens Capital, the new hotel under the French chain’s colors in a property belonging to Lampsa Hellenic Hotels.
Accor’s plans in Greece includes four more hotels that are scheduled to open next year, to be added to the portfolio of seven hotels the French chain already operates in the country. For next year, Accor has scheduled the inauguration of Niko Seaside Resort Crete MGallery at Agios Nikolaos, in eastern Crete, while its strategic investments framework has incorporated three more units: two of them on Mykonos – Raffles and Fairmont – and Banyan Tree Varko Bay at Aitoloakarnania, western Greece.
Paris-listed Accor SA currently operates four hotels in Athens and three more in the rest of the country: They are Athens Capital Hotel MGallery Collection, Novotel Athenes, Sofitel Athens Airport and Ibis Styles Athens Routes in the capital, and Angsana Corfu Resort & Spa by Banyan Tree which opened after renovations this year on Corfu, Mercure Rhodes Alexia on Rhodes, and Ibis Styles Heraklion Central at Iraklio on Crete.
For its part, the Fosun Tourism Group has announced the opening of three new units in Greece: May 2022 will see the launch of its Casa Cook hotel on Samos, which will be the first newly built unit of the Casa Cook chain in the world since before the pandemic started.
Furthermore, the Chinese group has confirmed the opening next year of a new Casa Cook on Mykonos and a new Cook’s Club at Ialysos on Rhodes.
