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Lindos: destinations such as Greece are extending their seasons as capacity tightens in traditional winter-sun locations


Summer hotspots open up to winter-sun opportunity


CAPACITY SHIFTS IN WINTER AND CHANGING TRENDS IN CONTRACTING WERE DISCUSSED AT THE ITT CONFERENCE. LEE HAYHURST REPORTS FROM TEL AVIV


A dearth of winter-sun capacity could see traditional Mediterranean summer hot spots reinvent themselves as year-round destinations.


Speaking to Travel Weekly at


last week’s ITT Conference in Tel Aviv, Vertical Group chief executive Peter Healey said hotels in places such as Greece and Cyprus are stretching their seasons. The biggest seller in Vertical’s


Your Holiday Booking portfolio, Sani Resort in Halkidiki, now heats all its outdoor pools and has invested in more indoor facilities.


72 travelweekly.co.uk 16 June 2016 Healey said this was just one


example of hotels in the eastern Mediterranean taking advantage of more-affordable technologies to invest in year-round facilities. “We will start to see destinations


that were traditionally closed in the winter develop resources like heated pools that will allow them to open in the winter,” said Healey. “Places like Cyprus and southern Greece have tremendous winter weather, as good as anything you get in the Canaries. “The cost of heating a pool has reduced: you can now use


things like geothermal and solar, something you could not have done five or 10 years ago. “Just extending business by two


weeks at the beginning and the end of the season can really make a big difference. It means a lot more people have a lot more work for a lot more of the year.” Healey praised low-cost airlines


for their influence in stretching seasons as they look to deploy aircraft on year-round routes. But it is not just the budget


carriers looking for 12-month routes. Monarch Airlines’ switch from charter to solely scheduled flying last year means it now has a focus on operating year-round destinations.


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