Greece Sees Int’l and Domestic Passenger Numbers Rise in January

Greek airports in January saw an increase in both international and domestic arrivals, according to data provided by the monthly bulletin of the Greek Tourism Confederation’s (SETE) research institute, INSETE.

Athens. Photo source: Visit Greece / Y.Skoulas

INSETE data released on Friday showed that Greece’s main airports last month recorded an increase in international arrivals by 10.4 percent to 376,000 passengers (from 341,000 in January 2018).

Growth in arrivals was noted in both Athens International Airport (up 8.7 percent) and regional airports – mainly Thessaloniki’s airport (up 15.2 percent).

In terms of domestic arrivals, Greece’s main airports in January recorded a 7.6 percent increase to 476,000 passengers compared to 443,000 in January 2018.

On the other hand, INSETE’s data showed that international road arrivals to Greece in January dropped by 26.5 percent to 462,000 from 628,000 during the same month last year.

The bulletin also highlighted the 10.1 percent increase in Greece’s travel receipts, according to the figures of the Bank of Greece’s border survey for 2018 compared to 2017.

Greek hotels – Global Review Index by ReviewPro

Hotel Grande Bretagne, Athens.

Hotels in Greece were rated 86.4 percent on the satisfaction index (Global Review Index – GRI by ReviewPro) in January, ranking first before hotels in Spain (84.8 percent), Cyprus (84.6 percent), Croatia (84.5 percent) and Italy (84.1 percemt). Turkey’s hotels recorded a 81.6 percent overall satisfaction index, while hotels in France ranked at 80.2 percent.

Greek destinations gaining the highest scores were Epirus (91.4 percent) and island of the Cyclades (89.7 percent). Five-star units collected the highest rating at 91.5 percent.

Citing Trivago data on Greece’s hospitality industry, INSETE said the prices of Greek hotels were moving at competitive levels compared to the rates at rival destinations abroad.

According to INSETE, Greece’s leading source markets in January were Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and Poland.

Moreover, the data revealed that the most popular destinations in the country for Greek travelers were Athens and Thessaloniki, followed by Arachova, Kalavryta, Ioannina, Loutraki, Trikala, Portaria, Metsovo and Nafplio.