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Besides strikes and marches, there are taxes that have been steadily increasing, VAT and other taxes. How does it affect hotel prices?

This very much affects mainly the competitiveness of our products and hotels. We have hard currency in Greece anyway, because we are part of the Eurozone. Many of our competitors, at least in this respect, are in much more advantageous position. Istanbul, say, is one of the most important city break destinations in Europe. Its currency, the Turkish lira, is weak but may be devalued when required resulting in better competitiveness. We have been experiencing the increasing of VAT and other taxes over the past year and a half. At the same time our competitors in Western Europe, in Germany, France, even in Spain and Cyprus, have reduced the VAT, at least in terms of tourist services and hotels, and as a result are now much more competitive. This is an issue we have repeatedly raised. On the other hand, we understand the present situation in the country, provided that it has come under the umbrella of the IMF and the EC less than two months ago. And we know it is difficult to insist on tax cuts at least in the current situation.

What about the end price, the one that the customer, the tourist pays? Is there a decrease, an increase?

Look, let me tell you that generally Athens, especially after the Olympic Games, has one of the most modern hotel and tourism products in Europe. All hotels in town are completely renovated after 2004. We have a new airport, if not the best, then one of the top three in Europe. We have new roads. That is, there is a modern and very good quality product. In terms of pricing now, like I said before, there is the issue of competitiveness and we know that we can not compete only in terms of prices. What we are trying to do and give our members is the correct quality-price ratio, ie what our Greek or foreign guests pay, they get it in terms of quality. I think prices in the Attica area are quite reasonable, and also because more than 60% of the bookings there and in Athens are made online. So, prices act as a stock exchange product, ie in a hotel you can see different price every day for three consecutive days depending on supply and demand. So, I think that most of the hotels in Athens offer fair price for their products. What we encourage our members currently, in the midst of the crisis, is not to decrease prices but to take care the price of the product they sell to meet its quality.

Is there a change in customers? That is, are there customers of the same level as before?

Yes, I can not say that we have customers of lower or higher level. We have the traditional customers who come here and we expect them to continue to come. There was a serious increase in American tourists after the Olympics, something we have lost in recent years. There is an issue that didn’t help us, at least not until recently, and this is the euro-dollar ratio. We were very expensive, not only in Greece but throughout Europe, due to the dollar depreciation. We are becoming more attractive for American tourists for the correction made in recent months, and we expect them and hope they will start to come again. We hope the number of American tourists in Greece to increase.

Which country has the largest share?

In the Attica area, I would say Americans, Germans, Englishmen and Frenchmen, and then Greeks and Cypriots, especially in winter months.

We talked about tourists. Now I would like to ask of those who are working in the hotels. Are there many dismissals?

There weren’t many dismissals in the Attica region. I can tell you that there was almost no redundancy. What occurred over the past year and a half is a more rational management of hotels. In order to cope with the large drop in revenue, which I mentioned, no new officers are appointed to replace those who leave due to retirement or because their term contract expiration. So, hotels take care not to immediately appoint new employees, but to recruit seasonal workers, if necessary, or if some urgent need arises. There wasn’t a wave of redundancies and we try to do what we can to prevent it.