Report: Poland may be short of hotels for Euro 2012

Jan 19, 2010, 11:48 GMT

Warsaw - Poland may be short of hotels to put up football fans during Euro 2012 because of a halt in investments caused by the economic downturn, the daily Rzeczpospolita reported Tuesday.

Organizers might have to use sports halls to put up sports fans as there will not be enough hotel rooms in the Polish cities hosting the games, the daily said.

New hotels will be going up in Warsaw and several other host cities worth a total of 800 million zloty (287 million dollars), with up to an additional 300 million zloty that may come from EU funds, industry analyst Andrzej Szafranski, of the Hotel Institute, told the daily.

But despite the quickened pace of investments, football fans will still be short of hotel rooms during the championship.

Players, organizers and VIPs will have plenty of choices in upscale hotels. But there will not be enough rooms to house the thousands of fans as only some 69,000 beds are available in Warsaw and the surrounding area.

Some eight hotels halted construction due to the economic downturn, but rooms may still be short even if that work is relaunched, the daily said.