The occupancy rate of the country’s main carnival venues is high, as evidenced by data released by the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers (POX), as well as a statement by Federation President Grigoris Tassios to the Macedonian News Agency in Athens.

As Mr. Tassios emphasizes, the picture in the large carnival venues is excellent, as the occupancy in them reaches 100%. At the same time, the country’s major cities have a positive image, such as Thessaloniki, which, although they do not hold major carnival events, demonstrate a satisfactory level of occupancy in terms of hotel accommodation. As for package prices, Mr Tassios notes that they may have risen by 10%, but that hasn’t stopped Greek visitors from booking hotels en masse during the three days of Clean Monday, as the results so far show. Booking details.

With reference to the data provided by POX, it is noted that bookings for the three days of Clean Monday (25-27 February) in popular winter destinations are said to be proceeding satisfactorily, while in urban centers such as Patras, where the “heart” Carnival is pounding, pre-bookings that started last November have already filled the city’s hotels, and demand is now shifting to the regions, from Aigio to Cato Achaia.

All destinations that are planning Halloween events have high occupancy, while usually there will be increased traffic on the weekend (February 18-19), provided that the prevailing weather conditions are ideal for the holiday. Traffic continues to “drop” on weekdays as well as the weekend following the three-day holiday period, with booking levels remaining sluggish and making it difficult for businesses to keep up with high operating costs. After Clean Monday and until March 25, hotel occupancy does not exceed 50% on average, both in provincial cities and in mountainous areas.

In most cases, bookings for Clean Monday include two nights. Over the course of three days, occupancy is expected to vary from 80% to 100% in the wider area of ​​Xanthi, in Ioannina, Drama, Kalavryta, Rethymno, Loutra Pozar, Corinthia, Western Macedonia and especially in Kozani, etc. A similar pattern and in Thessaloniki, where traffic is expected to increase over the next two weekends. In the region of Thrace (Komotini – Alexandroupoli), the number of bookings for three days is at a satisfactory level for the season, although there have been several Turkish cancellations in the last few days due to the deadly earthquake that hit the neighboring country.

In his APE-MPE address, the President of POX notes that the next important three-day period for the country’s mountain destinations is March 25th. In fact, he expresses his concern about how the influx of visitors will develop in the interim, as he reminds us that the cost of energy cancels out any benefit that can be obtained.