“Calm and waiting” characterizes the attitude of the hotel world in Greece, after the recent developments in Ukraine. At the moment there are no cancellations of tourist packages for Greece, but potentially the current situation could turn into a problem.
As the president of the Greek Chamber of Hotels, Alexandros Vassilikos, points out to APE - MPE, “obviously the situation in Ukraine scares everyone, as it happens in every difficult situation”. The Hotel Association is following developments closely, with Mr. Vassilikos unfolding the three levels on which the industry experts have their eyes on.
Rising energy costs the first effect of the crisis for hotels
The big issue for the country's hotels is increasing energy costs. “Whatever happens or doesn't happen in Ukraine from now on, Greece and its hotel industry is already paying for it and will continue to pay for it in the future,” Vassilikos stresses, referring to the skyrocketing energy prices. Of course, he believes that this will not affect the competitiveness of the country's tourism product, as this is a European issue that concerns everyone.
Problem for those hoteliers who have exclusive contracts with Russian TO's
Focusing on tourist flows to Greece, the current conflict is bound to affect any flows planned from Russia and Ukraine this year. On this point, Vasilikos notes that in recent years flows from Russia and Ukraine have not been large. “Even in the best years, visitors from Russia to Greece did not reach 1 million,” Vasilikos noted, adding that with the fall of the Turkish lyre it was predictable that Russians would go to Turkey this year.
The problem, however, lies with some hoteliers who have exclusive contracts with Russians, Vassilikos stresses, but he expresses his belief that they will have time to restructure their target markets to attract customers.
It will “hurt” tourism revenues if there is a problem with tourist flows from the US
On the other hand, the impact of the crisis on Greece will be significant if the US market, which in recent years, especially last year, has stood out, is affected. According to Mr. Vassilikos, if the conflict takes a different course, it will affect other markets as well, mainly the US. As he explains, Americans will hardly travel to Europe this year if there are unexpected developments. “Because they do not have a clear picture of the geographical distance between Greece and Ukraine” there is a possibility that they will not travel to Europe in general this year.
This will be a development that will “hurt”, says Vassilikos. It is noteworthy that Greece received from inbound tourism from the US about 1.2 billion euros in 2019 (6.7% of the total). In fact, receipts from the US in the first nine months of 2021 amounted to 47% of the corresponding first nine months of 2019. For this year, the first direct new flight from the US, as part of Delta's new summer schedule, to land at Eleftherios Venizelos on 7 March.
Fears that “small and medium-sized households” will not travel this year
Meanwhile, Nikos Chalkiadakis, president of the Heraklion Hotel Association, from Crete, which in the past stood out for the increased Russian flows, expressed his fear of the economic impact on European households from the current crisis.
As he explains, the economic impact of rising energy costs on European middle-class households may also affect their willingness to take a holiday this summer. In this context, the Heraklion Hotel Association is in constant contact with international bodies in order to record the new data.
Regarding what is to come, “the time that we will enter a normalcy will show the evolution of the season, the fact that we are in February is positive because we have room for recovery until May, says in a recent statement to APE-MPE the president of POX Quick Tasios.
K. Chalkiadakis
