Omicron – A deluge of cancellations in mountain hotels

A deluge of cancellations for the Epiphany holiday is recorded by the hotels of mountainous and semi-mountainous areas with the hoteliers questioning the positive “image” described in yesterday’s announcement by the Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias.

The restrictive measures announced shortly before the New Year, as well as the escalation of the “Omicron” variant, have drastically changed the climate, with the result that the hotel coffers are not “seeing the light” at all during the celebrations of Epiphany.

As reported to ot.gr by Mr. Angelos Kallias, head of the mountain hotel association and public relations supervisor of the Panhellenic Hoteliers Federation (POX) and president of the Drama Hoteliers Association, bookings for the Epiphany holiday until a few days ago were at 60% , but now they have fallen below an average of less than 30% in all the mountain units of the country.

Cancellations were also recorded for the New Year when the measures were announced, but because the demand was high, the gap was filled, but now the same trend is not observed with the demand having decreased sharply, explains Mr. Kallias.

In fact, he announced a joint announcement of all hotel entities representing units of mountain and semi-mountain destinations, which will challenge the “success story” recounted yesterday by Mr. Kikilias, as he characteristically stated and will ask the government for specific support measures.

Apart from the reduced bookings, the hotels of the mountain destinations also have to face significantly increased energy costs.

It is recalled that Mr. Kikilias in his announcement yesterday stated that he contacted the officals of the peak winter tourist destinations and confirmed the recovery of the winter destinations. The announcement does not mention whether Mr. Kikilias also contacted representatives of hotel operators.