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| Santorini |
US tourists have shown interest in visiting Greece as a holiday destination. The trends developed in the recent years and the stateside companies with or without links to Greece are planning to invest in the tourism industry of Greece.
Oaktree Capital Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, for instance are both participants in a venture which has seen the merger of the Sani and Ikos resorts. Their new project is expected to present its investment plans on further expansion in Greece very soon.
New, five-star Wyndham Grand Athens hotel, a member of the Wyndham Group is all set to open its doors on December 1. The group is also considering its further expansion in Greece. Marriott Hotels is alsp planning to return to Athens in 2018 after its agreement with the Chandris Group for the Chandris Metropolitan hotel on Syngrou Avenue. It is expected to be renamed as the Athens Marriott Hotel.
US-based NCH Capital will invest 100 million euros in a tourism development on Corfu and will be located on a plot to be conceded by state sell-off fund TAIPED after it won the tender.
Mage Hotels & Resorts, a Greek-American company will start perating the Athens Tiare Hotel in Omonia Square in 2016. Skotina Resort SA, one another Greek-American is also planning to invest a 30-million-euro investment at Skotina in Pieria, central Macedonia.
The period from 2012 to 2015 has proven excellent in terms of US tourism arrivals and revenues. According to data from the Bank of Greece, US tourist arrivals soared from 373,800 in 2012 and 466,500 in 2013 to 591,900 in 2014 and 750,300 in 2015.
In the past three years, US visitors’ spending in Greece seen a double growth – rom 425.9 million in 2012 and 568.6 million euros in 2013 to 655.1 million in 2014 and 943.3 million euros last year. The latest official data from January to August showed that arrivals from the US have risen 5.3 percent from 2015 to 551,200, but US tourists’ spending in Greece declined 24 percent in the year to end-August to come to 515.7 million euros.
