BERLIN — While top travel destinations across southern Europe have seen outsize demand from travelers and investors alike in recent years, Hilton's Alan Mantin said that is going to be more than a passing trend.
Mantin, Hilton's managing director of development in southern Europe, said his company has doubled its portfolio in the region in the past two years.
"The key element of this growth is driven by resorts, which we now have globally over 300 trading," he said during an interview with Hotel News Now at the 2024 International Hotel Investment Forum.
He said 10 new Hilton resorts are slated to open across southern Europe in countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain, Croatia and Malta.
There's an increasing interest from institutional investors into the resort space, as they have a more solid grasp with how to deal with seasonal demand, Mantin said.
"Now that aspect has been factored in the numbers, in a way, and they see the potential because people are spending more money at resorts for leisure," he said.
Despite Hilton's outsize growth in the region, Mantin said the past few years have seen a broadly difficult development environment due to expensive and scarce financing for construction. He added that has led Hilton to focus more on conversions for growth.
"It is challenging, but still there's high demand for conversions," he said. "We're moving very fast regardless of the situation with interest rates."
For more from HNN's interview with Hilton's Alan Mantin, watch the video above.