In which position did Greece finish pan-European in the demand for the Catholic Easter?

by Eva Economakis

The demand for the Catholic Easter in Greece moved at low speeds in terms of the Airbnb type short-term rental market.

Although on a pan-European level in March, the month in which the Catholic Easter was celebrated, there was a 32% increase in demand, Greece ranked among the lowest performing countries.

Specifically, in March the increase in demand for short-term rentals in Greece, according to the specialized platform AirDNA, reached 17.7% on an annual basis, slightly higher than in Switzerland, where the relative rate was 17.6%. The last place was occupied by Croatia at 3.9%, while Ireland finished one place above Greece with the increase in demand amounting to 20.2% on an annual basis.

The best figures in March were recorded by the Nordic countries setting the tone, with Norway at plus 64.1%, Denmark following with an increase of 50% and Sweden following with an increase of 44.5%. In fact, in 11 out of 20 (France, Poland, Austria, Greece, Norway, Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom, Sweden, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Switzerland, Spain, Hungary, Netherlands, Ireland, Croatia, Denmark, Czech Republic) under examination countries the increase in demand in March exceeded 30% compared to the corresponding month of 2023.

Easter week

As for the last week of March, a 55% increase in demand was recorded at a pan-European level, in contrast to the first three of the same month, when the increase reached 20% on a year-on-year basis.

In Switzerland and Ireland the increase in demand in the last week of March reached 40%, with Croatia and Greece lagging far behind at 24.5% and 6.8% respectively.

In contrast, in the last week of March, Norway saw an impressive 104.9% year-on-year increase in overnight stays, while Sweden saw a 95.6% increase. The number of overnight stays in Denmark also reached similar levels, with the increase reaching 86.1% compared to last year.

The completeness

At the same time, the small increase in available accommodation in March led to enhanced occupancy, with the last week of the month a standout and up 26.1% on last year.

Occupancy for most of the countries under review in the last week of March was up by more than 30% compared to the first three weeks of the month. The countries with the highest occupancy in the last week of March were the Netherlands (78%), Denmark (76%), Spain (73%) and the Czech Republic (72%).

Meanwhile, for Greece and Finland, Easter week did not boost occupancy much. In fact, Greece this week recorded the lowest occupancy rate among the 20 countries, just over 50%.

At a city level, now, occupancy in the 50 areas under review hovered around 72% in the week of Catholic Easter compared to 61% in the first 3 weeks of March. The top performers with over 80% occupancy were recorded by Florence (86%), Amsterdam (85%), Lisbon (84%), Prague (84%) and Porto (82%).

In all five cities, however, regulations adopted for the short-term rental market limit the number of available accommodations, leading to high occupancy during peak demand periods such as Easter.

As for the Greek capital, Athens, the only Greek city among the 50 under consideration, with occupancy at 70% was in the middle of the relevant list.