10 Apr Interview with Stavros Mitsis, CEO, Mitsis Group, Greece
Tourism hit a record year in Greece in 2023, with the period between January and August 2023 seeing a 12.4% rise from the previous year. However, global tourism is seeing some challenges related to over-tourism, including lack of staff and inflationary pressures. In July a new tourism strategy was outlined for Greece focused on sustainable tourism and diversification. How is the tourism rebound translating at Mitsis’ level?
We have managed to recover from the pandemic quite rapidly, and that is because we were able to follow the guidelines from the government. We have been working hand in hand with the government to create these guidelines, and I must stress that it takes an open-minded government to create these kinds of policies. Greeks have learned to work in small groups, but not teams, and is the problem that we’re facing now here: we have not managed to join forces in big teams to create more impact.
The opportunity going forward is to further develop our country’s untapped tourism potential. Although Greece has been open to tourism since the 1960’s, the sector remains at an elementary level. If you compare us to other destinations like Las Vegas or Dubai, or cities like London, New York, we still have a long way to go. If you compare Crete to Mallorca, this is even more obvious: there is much distance for us to cover. I believe that there is so much more that we can develop.
What have been some of the key predominant trends you have observed on the market lately?
The number one trend is sustainability, followed by individual experiences. We need to come up with products that cater for the individual, instead of one-size-fits-all sort of products. We must tailor and adapt to each individual’s needs and desires. We are no longer speaking of ‘tourists’ but more of ‘travellers’.
How have the recent geopolitical events impacted the tourism sector in Greece, such as recent conflicts and rising inflation? What new trends and opportunities are we seeing in the market?
I must say that our tourism industry has for a large part remained unaffected by the nearby conflicts. Even while the war in Ukraine nearby was raging, our bookings were booming. A year ago, we were having a huge peak in pricing, with energy and raw materials, and still people were booking holidays. Now it is even worse as another war has started, in Israel. Inflation is still high, and yet people are still booking holidays. In 2023, we had a record year, despite the macroeconomic and geopolitical situation. Our bookings are growing year by year, which means that traveling and getting away has become a necessity. At the same time, it has become quite easy to do.
Mitsis Group is Greece’s largest privately-owned hotel chain, with a portfolio of hotels and resorts covering Athens, Crete, Kamana Vourla, Kos and Rhodes. The company launched its new brand identity ‘The Kaleidoscope’ in November and introduced its latest hotel, Mitsis N’U Piraeus Port. Can you give our readers an overview of the company’s historical presence in the tourism sector, of its current assets and responsibilities? How does Mitsis Group stand out in Greece’s hospitality sector?
Mitsis Group originally started in the textile industry; we were producing pullovers for a number of years before getting into the tourism segment in the early 1970’s. The government at the time was an authoritative, army-led government, but it was pro-tourism, and they were promoting the development of tourism away from the main center of Athens. This is how our group ended up in the island of Kos, where we started building our first hotel in 1972, which opened in 1976. Ever since we have grown our business in Kos, and later on we also started activities on the island of Crete and, later, on the island of Rhodes. We are mainly existing in the three islands: Kos, Crete and Rhodes. In 2008 though we opened a hotel at the airport of Athens, and we leased out from the Greek government a hotel in Kamana Vourla. We are now opening a new hotel at Piraeus port. We started by investing in good locations nearby international airports.
Our focus is to provide the best possible locations and services. Today we are striving to maintain our status and positioning, but increasingly we are also focusing on the communities, both inside and outside the perimeter of our hotel premises. There is a large community, meaning the local population in the areas we operate, and an internal community within the hotel, meaning our staff and guests. We want this community to grow so we cater for their needs, and we always try to offer them what they want before they even realize they want it.
What is the reasoning behind your recent rebranding? And what are the new values or ethos that you want to transmit with this branding?
Our previous brand had three faces. When my father was leading the group, the logo was looking at the front, showing the waves. Today our kaleidoscope logo aims to reflect this world of opportunities that we live in, a world that is more diverse, that is more peculiar with so much different information. By utilizing the kaleidoscope, we wanted to revolutionize our brand and show that the group is not a one-man show but that it is a community that cares for all.
You mentioned this upcoming opening in Piraeus, but what further projects are being planned to fully upgrade your 21 hotels and resorts by 2030?
We managed to strengthen our position in all the three main islands, where we are established, Crete, Kos and Rhodes. This is approximately 7 million visitors coming to these three islands each year, and out of these we have a market share of about 5 or 6%. When it comes to our product, our market share is double that. During the past two years, we managed to further strengthen our position there.
In Rhodes, we bought two new hotels, and so now have three hotels next to each other. We are developing one integrated resort with three different hotel offerings. The project is in development, it includes a huge park as well of around 3000 m², including facilities for adults and children. Additionally, we bought another property at Afandou resort golf resort which is about 150 hectares. The area has an existing golf course, but which is in a poor state as it hasn’t been well maintained for the past 50 years, so we are looking at revitalizing thisWe are working with a court designer to rebuild this golf course. We are aiming to develop a fully integrated resort that will have a small touristic port as well, a small tourist village, a golf resort, boutique hotel, apartments by the port. This represents a major investment of around €500 million, which we are hoping to start in the course of 2025.
On the island of Kos, where we have been since the 70s, we recently acquired two new plots adjacent to the ones we already had. We had about 70 acres and we bought another 70 acres, so we have 140 acres now, which is similar in size to the land that we have in Afandou. We are aiming to build an eco-friendly resort there, very much focused on sustainability, farming and being close to nature. This is a very green and beautiful area, where we can find an ancient olive press as well.
We are not only investing on these island destinations, but also on the mainland. We recently renewed the lease agreement that we have on Kamana Vourla, and we are looking to exploit the thermal waters that this area holds and create one of the most important spas in Greece.
These four projects are meant to be landmarks for our group with no equivalent in the Mediterranean.
The tourism industry is committed to having net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 under the EU’s Green Deal. Mitsis Group released its latest CSR report in December outlining its contributions, including its Blue Flag, Green Key certifications and being among the ‘Most Sustainable Companies in Greece’ according to QualityNet Foundation. Tell me about the group’s biggest green initiatives, and how you are working to integrate further the sustainability aspect in your hotels and operations?
Our ambition is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. We are also targeting to be zero waste by 2030, both for organic and non-organic waste. We want to make sure that everybody that works with us understand that the word ‘waste’ is not acceptable to us. Any waste that we produce should first be minimized, and then be treated internally so we make sure it ends up in the right place in order to close the natural circle as much as possible. We are already taking care of organic waste in-house, but we are working to extend that to all waste.
We are also aiming to be plastic-free by 2030. This is a big challenge, though, because many food and beverage products are wrapped in plastic, and so it’s very difficult to get rid of plastic. Today, our first attempt in this sense is to get rid of single-use plastic. We have now installed a water bar in one of our pilot hotels, and we are going to create water stations in the hotel’s premises. Each guest will be provided with a water container upon arrival that they can refill at these stations. We are running a first pilot test in one hotel but shall soon replicate this model in all our hotels.
A particular challenge faced by the tourism sector in Greece and the world is the absence of human capital. What gaps are we seeing in terms of workforce and skillsets? What is Mitsis Group doing to provide training and upskilling for the country’s human capital in hospitality, and limit the turnover of its staff?
We very much value our community, and we very much respect each other. If you manage to keep your employees, you are more performant and you can run your hotels more efficiently, so we try and make sure that the employees that we work with remain within our group for as long as possible. I believe that companies are playing a strong educational role, and they act like a family. Our staff is quite young with 80% between 20 and 40. We give them a strong sense of belonging, we give them the chance to grow and enhance their skill-set, their know-how and expertise; and we try and help them sharpen their business mind and their way of thinking. We provide continuous training to our employees at different levels. The training that we give to our general managers is completely different from the training that we give to their assistants, which is completely different to the training that we give to the management which is completed different that the training that we give to the rest of the staff. This has paid off because we managed to minimize the turnover of staff. I feel very proud to have people who like working with us, as at the end of the day, this is our ultimate goal: to create a community that people want to be part of, where they give and where they also receive.
The US is a primary investment and cooperation partner for Greece, it’s also a major source market for tourism. It is expected that at the beginning of this year that Greece would welcome more than 1 million travelers from the USA in 2024, attracted by Greece’s unmatched and constantly developing tourism package. How important are American visitors for Mitsis Group, and how are you trying to seduce the American tourist?
The best thing that we can do is to showcase our products in the US. As of 2025 we will organize road shows in the US, in the cities where there are direct flight connections, to inform them about our properties and offerings. We already have a lot of American guests at our hotel next to the airport as it is very convenient for them to stay there before they travel to another destination or go on a cruise. Usually, Americans come here for a cruise: they spend a couple of days in Athens to visit the Parthenon, and later they take off on the cruise for Mykonos, Santorini, and the like.
What kind of opportunities exist in the Greek market for American investors?
I believe that hedge funds are already quite interested in Greece, and they will want to invest further, especially in Greek real estate. Tourism is in a preliminary state, we are on the eve of major further developments in the tourism sector soon, and therefore investing in Greek real estate is a good decision and one that will pay out in the long-term. Several large institutional investors have already invested in the market, like Blackrock or Goldman Sachs, who bought several hotels in the northern part of Greece.
On the one hand, you have these many funds that are well positioned in Greece, and on the other hand you have individual buyers looking for secondary homes, villas or beach apartment within towns. The offering there is still little, but of very good quality. Only one percent of the Greek coastline has been developed so far, so imagine when we have developed 2%!
You stepped up as Managing Director of Mitsis Group in 2016 and have successfully led the company through substantial growth despite setbacks posed by the pandemic. The company now stands to grow significantly under its new 2030 targets. What are your current top personal priorities as Managing Director of Mitsis Group?
We want to develop these four destinations, Kos, Crete, Rhodes and Kamana Vourla. We want to grow these destinations into some remarkable landmarks, not only for Greeks but also for international visitors. At the same time, we want to maintain the status that we already have, as a leading hospitality group in Greece, focused on quality, sustainability and society.
What’s your final message to our readers?
Greece is an extremely diverse country that has to offer so many different experiences in one very little area. Traveling from North to South by car will take you no more than 10 hours, which is nothing for Americans, and within that route you will find so many different sites and attractions.