A National Bank of Greece study, released this week, states that up to 22 billion euros worth of investment in Greece’s tourism sector over a five-year span will yield an extra five billion euros, annually, in tourism-related revenue.
The breakdown, according to the study, is six billion euros in new hotel construction and 16 billion euros in other related infrastructure.
Revenues from the all-important tourism sector in Greece reached 13.2 billion euros for 2016, which means that a five-billion-euro increase on top of this figure would translate into a 40-percent hike.
According to the NBG study, the east Mediterranean country stands ready to exploit what’s called a “positive international juncture” compared to regional and European competitors, such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Croatia and Turkey.
In a related development, the first figures for Athens-area hotels for 2017 emerged this week, with the first-half results showing an increase of 4.9 percent in terms of average occupancy. The average price per room was also up by 5 percent, compared with the same period in 2016.
Nevertheless, according to the monthly bulletin by the trade association representing hoteliers in greater Athens and the Saronic Gulf area, in cooperation with GBR Consulting, June 2017 results fell short of forecasts.
Specifically, average occupancy in June 2017 for Athens-area hotels was up by only 3.1 percent, with the average room rate up by 2.3 percent.
According to very recent figures by the firm European Benchmarking, Athens remains the second cheapest European capital to visit, with Istanbul still holding the title.
