Hotel Prices Down in Most Parts of Greece

Beautiful Corfu has seen the sharpest drop in pricing

Thanks to the Toronto Star's Jim Byers and Travel Mole for bringing TripAdvisor's recent survey to my attention. The user review giant also tracks hotel pricing, and has found that from 2011 to 2012, lodging prices in many areas of Greece have plunged.

The dip is deepest in Corfu, where hotels cost a full 20% less than they did last year. Athens is down nearly 8% with an average hotel rate of 74 euros per night (as opposed to last year's rate of 81 euros). In Kos prices dropped nearly 10%, in Kefalonia and Crete the rate is about 7%, and in Rhodes the drop is nearly 6%.

Only the popular islands of Santorini and Mykonos seem to be thriving. Prices are down just .1% in the first and up .7% in Mykonos (the Mamma Mia effect?).

Now TripAdvisor was looking at winter dates for this survey (November through January). Its not clear whether the price drops will be as stark come high summer season.

But they do point up the fact that Greece's economic troubles and near-constant strikes and protests are hurting the country's tourism. My guess is that travel there come summer may well remain more affordable than in years past.