by In the eighteen years of traveling to Greece after the collapse of the right military junta in Greece after the collapse of the right -wing military junta, most tourists were generally a random matter. The travelers of diesel jet food feed were cried by locals who screamed: “rooms? Do you want rooms?”
According to the random principle, they were brought into the velvety, in the dark in the dark of cricket neries in the back of a tattered Nissan pickup to get to a rustic Domatia (Room) in the middle of nowhere (but always near a spectacular beach), where they slept on hard (always unromantically individual) beds and were lucky when they were hot water. Although you spent the night to throw and switch on your nail bed when you tried in vain to ward off the mosquitoes, but you have always won the warm welcome greeting you received in the morning with just cooked eggs and bread plates that were beaten with local honey.
As early as the 1930s, the Greek National Tourist Office (GNTO) had shaped the slogan: “Going to Greece is like home.” “Greece has always been primarily related [destination]“Georgios Kaloutsakis, whose parents opened the first hotel in the popular Cretan resort of Hersonissos, told me.
The writer Heidi Fulle-Love depicted in Santorini has had good memories of the visit of Greece in the 1980s
Greece began to develop its luxury hotel industry in the 1960s when the country became a magnet for international jet seters from Grace Kelly to Brigitte Bardot and Marlon Brando. In the late 1970s, however, Greece only had a very limited number of five-star Hotels-maybe only a few dozen, including Grande Bretagne and Astir Palace (now four seasons), both in Athens, Eleni Skarveli, the director of the GNTO offices in Great Britain and Ireland, explained to me. “At that time, luxurious amenities were rare and reserved for the elite,” she added.
My well-equipped suite with its plump queensize bed, the marble bath and the sea view pool on Abaton Island, Kaloutsakis’ current property in Crete, shows how far Greek hotels have come in the past 40 or 50 years. “In the early days, the industry mostly consisted of small, family -run companies,” said Kaloutsakis. “While this personal grade is still available in some places, the sector has become more companies and industrially on the size. This certainly brings a new level of efficiency, consistency and global standards, but it also shifts the industry from the intimate, family -oriented model that initially puts Greece onto the tourism card.”
A historical photo of the five-star resort of Creta Maris in Crete, which was first opened in 1975
On the Megalo nisi (Big Island) from Crete the Metaxas family is currently celebrating 50 years and has been open for business for the first time in 1975. After the tourism trends were opened in Spain and Rhodes after the tourism trends at the time, the founder of the resort, Nikolaos Metaxas, saw that Crete was ripe for development. The extensive property of the family was built at a time when large -scale resorts on the island were almost unavailable. “Greek tourism has experienced a remarkable transformation in the past four decades – in size, infrastructure, target diversity, types of tourism and sustainability awareness,” said Andreas Metaxas, Managing Director of Metaxa Hospitality.
According to the latest market report for Greek Hospitality Market, more than 400 five-star hotels have opened their doors between 2012 and 2022, which corresponds to an increase of 117 percent compared to the past ten years. Five-star real estate made up 43.5 percent of the total hotel revenue during this period. “Luxury in hospitality has shifted from a material opulence to sensible experience. Four decades ago, the guests were blinded by large swimming pools, air conditioning systems, mini -bars, television and lifts. Today, the guests demand the luxury of authenticity and simplicity”, and Andreas discussed.
Vacation in the Creta Maris Resort, approx. 1980-90
Markos Chaidemenos is the owner of the second generation of family-run Canaves Hotels, one of the first hotel chains in Santorin, and currently his high-end. The Chaidemenos family set the trend, which now fade three million tourists to this cycladian island every year Kanaves – Caves with which wine were kept – into unique accommodations. “At that time, the heart of Santorini’s tourism was on the beach-the clip side was considered a” cheap “side. We were among the first to see the potential of the Caldera Cliffs and Oia Dorf as the ultimate luxury environment,” said the 30-year-old owner.
Today, he added, the challenge was the balance. How many successful goals have experienced Santorini seasons intensively. In order to take this into account, the island has introduced important measures, including a daily upper limit of 8,000 passengers for cruise ships and a ticket of 20 (£ 17) for cruise visitors.
The Chaidemenos family (with Markos, the owner of the second generation of family-run Canaves Hotels right) -Maxos
From around 71,000 arrivals in 1930, Greece is now attracting around 35.9 million tourists per year. The Virtuoso Luxe Report 2024, in which more than 2,000 travel representatives and professional travel consultants were interviewed in 50 countries, quotes Greece (which was also recognized at this year’s Telegraph Travel Awards as the best European travel destination) as one of the global goals for high spending travelers.
At the inauguration of a and only aesthesse, the second Greek resort of the only and only brand at the beginning of this year, Greek Prime Minister Kyriako’s Mitsotakis said that Greece positions himself as a “leading player on the ultra-luxury tourism market”.
In view of the violent competition for investments and upgrades a year compared to the year, many of the family-run, family-run hotels that were located on the origin of the Greece Tourism boom cannot compete. At the end of 2024, according to the data published by Greece (Institute for Tourism Research and forecast (ITEP), one-star hotels had decreased to 1,147 and two stars to 3,251. This explains a total loss of 1,538 hotels.
These fears are confirmed by the Greek market report of TravelWorks for the period from 2024 to 2027, which says that more than 60 hotel projects will be developed in Greece in the next four years and four out of ten new hotels have or are operated by international brands. “Luxury can be built anywhere in the world, but the soul of Greek hospitality – the warmth, authenticity and connection to the country and its people – cannot be replicated,” warned Kaloutsakis.
Heidi Fuller-Love traveled as a guest of Creta MarisWhat doubles from £ 200; And Abaton IslandWhat doubles from £ 256; Canaves EnaWhat doubles from £ 391.
