Greek Islands See September Arrivals Pouring in

Rhodes, Island Photo Source: http://likenoother.aegeanislands.gr

Islands of the Cyclades and Dodecanese have welcomed over 270,000 international passengers just during the first 10 days of September, the South Aegean Tourism Initiative said on Wednesday.

“The high performance recorded in August, which exceeded expectations, continues in the first month of autumn in the Cyclades and Dodecanese,” the tourism body said.

According to data from the region’s five international airports – Rhodes, Kos, Santorini, Mykonos and Karpathos – from September 1 to 12, more than 2,000 aircraft landed on the islands, carrying more than 270,000 passengers from abroad, more than half of the corresponding period last year.

Rhodes see direct international arrivals reach 1 million

Of the 270,000 passengers, 128,209 chose Rhodes for their vacation, bringing up the total number of passengers the Greek island has welcomed since the beginning of the tourist season to about 1 million.

“This means that Rhodes is already approaching the goal of doubling its total arrivals of 2020,” the South Aegean Tourism Initiative said.

The islands of the Dodecanese, Kos and Karpathos, also saw arrivals in the beginning of September off to a good start.

More specifically, more than 62,000 passengers from abroad flew to Kos by September 12, bringing the total number of air arrivals to the island this season to about half a million. Respectively, Karpathos saw arrivals reaching 5,000 in the first ten days of the month.

September a good month also for the Cyclades

Moreover, the data released by the South Aegean Tourism Initiative showed that tourist flows from abroad continued on a high note for Santorini, as in the first 10 days of this month more than 10,000 arrivals were recorded, adding up to 45,057 foreign visitors for the whole season.

Mykonos is also fairing well as in just the first ten days of September it surpassed the total arrivals of the same month in 2020 (30,620 arrivals).

It is noted that the data of the the South Aegean Tourism Initiative does not include passengers traveling through Athens International Airport (AIA) on domestic flights nor passengers using Greece’s ferry network.

Established in January 2021 by the regions governor, George Haztimarkos, the South Aegean Tourism Initiative is a body made up of tourism, trade and hotel stakeholders and their relevant associations and chambers.