Booking.com | Greek hoteliers’ optimism for 2025 at historic highs

• The European tourism industry is moving in a climate of sustained optimism, with Greece standing out as one of the most optimistic hotel markets in relation to the sector’s performance in view of the 2025 season. Despite geopolitical tensions and global economic uncertainty, Greek tourism businesses are more confident than ever about their future, recording the highest performance of positive economic climate in Europe.

As shown by the latest Booking.com Barometer, Greece, along with Italy and Portugal, displays the strongest positive expectations in the European hospitality market, presenting the best performance in terms of perception of stable growth and optimism for the future.

In fact, for the first time, the business climate of Greek hotel companies exceeds the European average: While 63% of European hotels expect positive developments in the coming six months, the corresponding percentage of Greek hoteliers reaches an impressive 85%, the highest in Europe, while in other markets, such as Germany (33%), Austria (40%) and France (50%), greater caution prevails regarding their prospects in 2025, and even at historically low levels.

More specifically, 55% of Greek hotel executives stated that the evolution of the average room rate in the last 6 months increased significantly, 41% stated the same about the evolution of occupancy, 53% that they did not find any difficulty in accessing capital and 20% that they will make more investments compared to the previous 6 months.

The Booking.com survey also records an increased perception of Greek hoteliers regarding their ease of access to capital, which strengthens the investment intention of businesses and creates the conditions for further development and upgrading of their infrastructure.

Greek hotels also lead the way in investment readiness for the next 6 months, with 19% - the largest percentage in Europe - reporting that they will make more investments compared to the previous 6 months, and 63% that they will invest the same. Portugal (18%), the Scandinavian countries (16%), Germany (14%) and Croatia (13%) follow in terms of willingness to invest more, with the average in Europe standing at 12%.

Recruitment in focus

The increased optimism is also accompanied by intense mobility in the human resources sector despite the difficulties that the European hotel industry faces in filling vacant positions. Greece, together with Spain, shows the highest hiring trend at the European level, mainly in frontline positions such as cleaning and catering services, while at the opposite end are Germany and Austria, where hoteliers are more restrained.

In particular, the number of hirings in Greek hotels with more than 10 employees for the coming 12 months amounts to 8.8 – more than all European countries – while 85% of Greek hoteliers, more than in any other European market, reported positive expectations for the future in this area.

The corresponding levels for Spain are 8.3 hires in the coming 12 months, and 80% of hotels are positive about the future development of employment in them, while in Portugal, the average number of employees in the 12 months will be 7.6, with 84% of hotels expressing optimism about the future. The average in Europe is 4.9 hires in the 12 months, and 63% of hoteliers are optimistic about the future of employment in hotels.

However, the biggest “thorn” remains the coverage of specialized positions, such as management, sales and event organization positions, where the ratio of difficulty of hiring for a qualified executive reaches 10:1. For every 1 case where a company manages to hire a competent manager relatively easily, there are 10 cases where the process is extremely difficult or even impossible. The main obstacles in this process, for both European and Greek hotels, are the mismatch of expectations regarding salary and working hours, especially in large hotels.

At a European level, 47% of hotels face serious problems in finding and hiring candidates with the appropriate skills or experience, especially in management, sales and spa specialist positions.

Greek hotel companies also stand out for the particular emphasis they place on continuous staff training, at rates higher than the European average.

At the same time, there is increased interest in the integration of innovative artificial intelligence tools, an element that confirms the intention of Greek accommodations to adapt to modern technological trends with a view to strengthening their competitiveness.

Many European accommodations recognize the potential benefits of AI for their operations, particularly in the areas of marketing (66%), customer service (63%), and revenue management (61%). However, challenges continue to hinder this process, with 3 in 5 executives citing high implementation costs (61%) and integration complexity (58%).

The survey was conducted by Statista between February 24 and April 22, 2025, through telephone interviews with a sample of 1,160 executives and hotel managers in the European hospitality industry, 80 from each country (Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Poland, Portugal and Spain).