Galery

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The rooms of hotels and guesthouses in the most popular resorts in Greece have remained empty during the Christmas holidays. Unlike last year, this year did not report a strong increase in last minute bookings and did not reach 100% occupancy.

The majority of the managers of hotels located in popular winter destinations also note that this was due to the forecasts of bad weather as well as to the fact that several ski resorts were not open at all or were not working at their full capacity. They however believe that the snow expected in many mountainous areas in the coming days will increase the number of last minute bookings for the remainder of the holiday season.

Arachova, photo: resortgreece.gr

"The average rate of occupancy of the hotels in Arachova reached 80% at Christmas," says Yiannis Georgakos, chairman of the hotel union there, who believes that demand will increase in the coming days because of the expected snow in the winter resort on Mount Parnassos. As he explains, last minute bookings have been put on hold mostly because only cafes in the ski resort are open. In Arachova, there are 2,500 beds in hotels and other accommodation facilities.

Kalavryta, photo: mightymouse.gr

"The number of occupied rooms in the hotels in Kalavryta is slightly lower than last year," says Dinos Dafalias, chairman of the regional association of hoteliers. He stresses that the winter resort is working at its average capacity and slightly above it. The average rate of occupancy at Christmas was 90%. It is expected that the number of bookings will increase in the coming days due to the expected snow. There are 1,800 beds in the resort.

Karpenisi, photo: travelhall.gr

Similar are the statements by the head of the association of hoteliers in Evritania, Panagiotis Mandzoufas, who notes that the average rate of occupancy was around 90%, because the winter resort Karpenisi was open mainly for walks. He admits that the forecasts of bad weather during the Christmas holidays had played a negative role and led to the cancellation of bookings. Many hotels will offer last minute bookings for New Year. There are 2,200 beds in the resorts in the region.

In Trikala, 100% of the facilities were occupied  until 29 December as stated by the chairman of the local hospitality organisation, Nikos Theodoratos, who adds that the trend will remain unchanged after the New Year holidays. There are 900 beds in the region.

Pilio, photo: menohalandri.gr

In Pilio the number of bookings was lower than last year since the average rate of occupancy reached 80% as stated by the chairman of the association of hoteliers in Magnesia, George Zafiris. It is believed that demand will increase in the coming days because of the expected snowfall in the winter resort, which is operating. There are 7,000 hotel beds in the region.

"The situation with the sales of organised trips for the holiday period is slightly better than last year due to last minute bookings," says the chairman of the union of Greek travel agencies, George Telonis.