High occupancy for the long weekend of October 28
Greece’s highland destinations report reservation levels on a par with three years ago, and in some cases even higher, for the national holiday weekend of October 28. They hover at around 90%-95% a week ahead of the holiday, while the most popular accommodations report waiting lists covering 30% of existing capacity.
Not all regions in Greece show the same performance, however. Discrepancies are noted according to proximity to Athens and to a lesser extent to Thessaloniki, as increased transport costs are limiting demand. This is explained by the head of the informal group of hoteliers of mountainous and semi-mountainous destinations and president of the Drama Hoteliers Association, Angelos Kallias, who adds that it is a typical long weekend led by Greek travelers.
Kallias notes that a grouping of different speeds has been formed, depending on the characteristics of each destination: The first speed, the one with the highest occupancy, includes destinations near Attica, such as Arachova, Kalavryta, Trikala (in Corinthia) and Arcadia. In the second gear there are more distant destinations, such as Karpenisi, Pilio and Plastira Lake, where occupancy is a little lower, around 80%-85%.
Finally, the third speed includes the most remote destinations of northern Greece, such as Litochoro, Kastoria, Karditsa, Drama, Nestochoria, Xanthi, Komotini and Serres. “The return tolls from Athens to Drama cost around 80 euros, plus another €220 for fuel,” calculates Kallias, saying that this is a price tag not everyone can easily cover, especially as hotel prices have gone up by 15%-20%.
He does point out that the picture for the October 28 weekend is not indicative, since the mountain destinations have a season of 130 days, of which only 30 have real activity. These are the days around October 28, Christmas, New Year, Epiphany and Clean Monday. Therefore, he estimates that the average occupancy in October is between 20%-25%, while in November it will be even lower, at 15%-20%. In addition, he argues that operating expenses have more than doubled in terms of heating costs and increased by 50% in terms of electricity, just as competition with short-term rental platforms is intensifying.
