Athens’ hoteliers hope for a good September tourist-wise, maintaining their prices at satisfactory levels in order to attract foreign tourists.
According to the most recent data of the Trivago search engine published in travel.gr, the average online price per stay in a double room in Athens’ hotels in September is €114. The average price per stay in April was €102, while in May, June and July €108, and in August €113.
Τrivago records the monthly hotel price change on more than 400 booking websites for more than 2 million hotels and alternative lodgings around the world. It also regularly tracks the prices in 51 popular tourist cities globally.
In other cities that are popular for tourists, online prices in September are as follows: London €171 per stay, Barcelona €137, Vienna €130, Rome €127, Lisbon €126 and Madrid €123.
In the European destination rankings, the 3 most expensive cities, accommodation-wise, this month are Zurich at €214, Reykjavik at €206 and Paris at €181. While the cheapest stays in September are Moscow at €61 per stay, Istanbul at €67 and Warsaw at €71.
After all, the data from the Institute of the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises (INSETE) about the scheduling of flights in the forthcoming period shows that the interest in travelling to Athens remains high. Particularly, for the period between 13 and 26 September, 358.428 airline seats from 30 countries have been scheduled. The top ten countries with the most scheduled seats to Athens for this period are Germany, Britain, USA, France, Italy, Cyprus, Switzerland, Holland, Turkey and Spain.
Three new investments for luxury hotels
The recovery of tourist activity keeps the interest in new investments in the centre of Athens alive. On the business front, it’s worth noting that 3 permits were given recently, for the creation of new luxury hotel units in the capital.
The first permit was given to the company ΙΟΝΙΑN SUN A.E. and concerns the development, modernization, and reinforcement of the foundations of a building that housed shops and was built before 1955 on 46 Perikleous street. Additional floors will be added to the building and its larger part will be turned into a 5-star-hotel.
NEWTHOUGHT HOLDINGS LTD has also secured a permit, from the Ministry of Culture for the restructure – restoration and new use of a building on 11 Palaiologou Mpenizelou str & Mitropoleos Square 5, that used to house shops and offices, to house a 4-star-hotel.
The proposed use and planned works that aim to conserve the exterior of the abandoned building, to restore its functionality, and to aesthetically improve it, were deemed compliant and are by no direct or indirect means harmful to the area’s listed monuments, nor to Athens’ enclosed archaeological site.
Ιt is also permitted to open a café-restaurant within the hotel and part of the public space in front of the building on Mitropoleos Square and on Palaiologou Mpenizelou street is granted so as to use it for outdoor seating.
The company BLE KEDROS REIC has received permission from the Ministry of Environment and Energy to remodel a building on 21-25 Dimitrakopoulou & 22-22B Falirou street, in the Makrigianni area, that was used as a car station, and turn it into a hotel. They secured permission to totally renovate the property, restore the architectural and morphological elements of the listed façades on Dimitrakopoulou and Falirou streets, rearrange the interior, using a new basic structure, and internally adjust the levels, reducing the number of floors, in order to facilitate the new use, and ensure the property’s functionality and sustainability.
