Greece Sees Arrivals by Air Rise and by Road Fall in September

Athens, Greece. Photo © Y. Skoulas. Source: Visit Greece

Greece in September saw air arrivals up and road arrivals down compared with the same month in 2017, the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) said on Wednesday in its monthly bulletin by its research institute, InSETE.

In particular, the country’s main airports recorded an increase in international arrivals by 10.2 percent (up 12.8 percent since the beginning of the year). Growth in arrivals was noted in both Athens International Airport (up 13.1 percent) and regional airports (up 9.5 percent). From the beginning of 2018 the respective increases were 19.2 percent and 10.8 percent.

However, international road arrivals dropped by 12.5 percent, leading to a 3.1 percent decrease since the beginning of the year.

Passengers arriving at Athens International Airport. Photo © GTP

Citing data of the Bank of Greece’s border survey, SETE said that August’s inbound traffic increased by 4.8 percent compared with August 2017 and travel receipts rose by 1.4 percent. From the beginning of the year, respective increases were 11.6 percent and 11.1 percent.

SETE also provided data from the Hellenic Slot Coordination Authority, which showed that airline seats on inbound flights are expected to increase by 12.5 percent for the whole season.

Regarding consumer confidence, improvement continues in most of Greece’s source markets. However, a decline is noticed in five important markets for the country (Finland, Belgium, France, The Netherlands and Turkey).

September bookings

Greece saw most bookings from the UK market in September, which was followed by the German, Italian, Bulgarian and French markets.

Tourists on Santorini’s volcano. Photo © GTP

Citing Trivago data on Greece’s hospitality industry, SETE noted that the prices of Greek hotels, despite upward trends, moved at competitive levels in most destinations, compared to the prices of hotel units of corresponding destinations abroad.

Greece’s main destinations for incoming tourists in September were Athens, Mykonos, Santorini and Crete. The most popular destinations for the domestic market in September were Athens, Thessaloniki, Nafplio, Tinos and Chania on Crete.