Greek Foreign Arrivals Drop In First Half Of 2012

International arrivals to Greece dropped nine percent in the first six months of the year, according to data released recently by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

Arrivals from Europe that account for 87.8 percent of the total of arrivals to Greece showed a decline of 7.9 percent during the January-June period compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, arrivals specifically from European Union member states were down 11.6 percent.

A significant reduction in international arrivals was noted from France, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Poland and Germany. In regards to countries out of Europe, arrivals from the US dropped by 33.6 percent.

In regards to the total of non-resident arrivals by country of origin, Germany accounted for 12.8 percent of the total (down some seven percent), followed by the UK that accounted for 12.7 percent (16 percent increase). Germany and the UK are Greece’s biggest tourism markets.

In addition, ELSTAT’s data showed that most arrivals to Greece are by air (69.6 percent share of total). The airport with the largest proportion of traffic is Athens International Airport (21.8 percent), followed by airports in Heraklion, Crete (11.6 percent), Rhodes (9.2 percent) and Thessaloniki (6.5 percent).