The level of occupancy in the country’s main carnival destinations is high, as can be seen from the data released by the Panhellenic Hoteliers’ Federation (POX), as well as from the statement of the president of the Federation, Grigoris Tassios, to the Athenian Macedonian News Agency.

As Mr. Tassios emphasizes, the picture in the big carnival destinations is excellent, as the occupancy in them reaches 100%. At the same time, the image is positive in the country’s big cities, as for example is the case with Thessaloniki, which, although it does not have large carnival events, shows a satisfactory level of occupancy in terms of hotel arrivals. Regarding the prices of the tourist packages, Mr. Tassios notes that they may have increased by 10%, however, they have not prevented Greek visitors from massively booking hotels during the three days of Clean Monday, as this is demonstrated by the results so far booking details.

With reference to the data presented by POX, it is noted that bookings for the three days of Clean Monday (February 25 – 27) in popular winter destinations, as it is emphasized, are progressing satisfactorily, while in urban centers such as Patras, where the “heart” beats of the Carnival, the pre-bookings that have started since last November have already filled the city’s hotels and now the demand is transferred regionally, from Aegio to Kato Achaia.

All the destinations planning Halloween events are recording high occupancy rates, while it is typical that the weekend (February 18-19) will see increased traffic, provided that the prevailing weather conditions will be ideal for getaways. “Falled” is the traffic on weekdays and also on the weekends following the festive three-day period, with the rate of bookings remaining sluggish and as a result businesses are struggling to cope with the high operating costs. After Clean Monday and until March 25, hotel occupancy does not exceed 50% on average, both in the provincial towns and in the highlands.

In most cases reservations for Clean Monday include two nights. During the three days, occupancy is expected to range from 80% to 100% in the wider area of ​​Xanthi, in Ioannina, Drama, Kalavrita, Rethymno, Loutra Pozar, Corinthia, Western Macedonia and especially Kozani etc. .a. The picture is similar in Thessaloniki, where traffic is expected to increase for the next two weekends. In the region of Thrace (Komotini – Alexandroupoli) the bookings for the three days fluctuate at satisfactory levels for the season, although in the last few days some Turkish cancellations were recorded due to the deadly earthquake that hit the neighboring country.

In his intervention at APE-MPE, the president of POX notes that the next important three-day period for the mountainous destinations of the country is that of March 25. In fact, he expresses his anxiety about how the arrivals of visitors will develop in the interim dates, as he reminds us that the energy cost cuts off any benefit that results.