69.8% of seasonal hotels were open in the second quarter of 2021, according to the conclusions of a survey conducted by the Research Institute of Tourism (RIT) for the southern Aegean.

From the remaining 30% of properties that have not opened by the end of June, the vast majority are due to open in the near future, while 18% have not yet made a decision on whether to open up for business.

Of the seasonal hotels that intend to open in the southern Aegean, half (47.5%) say they will be in operation in the coming weeks, elevating the rate of open hotels for the south Aegean in the month of July to 84%, according to the same survey.

The results of the RIT survey are in accordance with the data of the hoteliers’ associations for the islands of Rhodes, Kos, Mykonos, Santorini, Paros and Naxos. Specifically, during June eight out of ten seasonal hotels were open in Rhodes and Santorini, while in Kos this rate is limited to 50%, but is expected to increase.

The highest open hotel rates are recorded in Mykonos, Paros and Naxos, where the hotels that opened reached up to 90% as early as June, while, according to the corresponding hotel associations, all hotels on these islands are expected to open in July.

However, compared to last year, from the data available through RIT, at the end of July the hotels that had created a health protocol accounted for 65% of the total hotel capacity of the South Aegean Region.

It is noted that every hotel, in order to open this year, is obliged to comply with specific health protocols, based on which the necessary health safety standards are regulated.

This article was previously published in Greek at kathimerini.gr.