“Tourism is right now at point zero. Hotels are sending out an SOS. It will take a total restart to win the future and to continue their great contribution to economic growth, employment and social cohesion. It will take a lot of time for the tourism industry to return to 2019 levels once again,” Alexandros Vasilikos, president of the Hellenic Chamber of Greece said on Monday.

Speaking during a video conference with reporters, Vasilikos presented the results of the third round of a survey on the repercussions of the coronavirus on the hotel industry. Based on the survey, conducted by the Research Institute for Tourism (ITEP), 65 pct of year-round hotels said they saw a strong possibility of bankruptcy (46.6 pct possible, 18.3 pct very possible), while for seasonal hotels this percentage fell to 51.8 pct (40.5 pct possible and 11.3 pct very possible). At the same time, 95 pct of year-round hotels expect an average 56.3 pct fall in turnover, while 94.2 pct of seasonal hotels expect a 56.1 pct drop in turnover.

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The survey estimates that losses of hotel turnover in 2020 will amount to 1.2 billion euros for year-round hotels and 3.26 billion for seasonal hotels, for a total of 4.46 billion. In addition, 57.3 pct of hotels expect a 40 pct drop in employment (seasonal hotels expect a 41.5 pct drop), while a 71.1 pct of hotels expect they will need financing (on an average of 31.1 pct of their turnover, 31.4 pct for seasonal hotels).

Source: amna