Dodecanese Islands Welcome Increase in Tourist Arrivals in January-May

Rhodes, Greece.

The Dodecanese islands, which include popular destinations like Rhodes and Kos, welcomed 78,000 more visitors in the first five months of the year marking a 14 percent increase over 2022, followed by Crete and the Ionian islands, according to data released recently by INSETE, the Greek Tourism Confederation’s (SETE) research body.

An additional 73,000 tourists visited Crete in the January-May period up by 9.2 percent and an additional 34,000 people traveled to the Ionian islands, up by 7.9 percent over the same period in 2022.

In the five-month period to May, Greece welcomed a total of 5.3 million travelers by air up by 29.3 percent or an additional 1.2 million arrivals compared to the same period in 2022 and by 9.6 percent over 2019.

Road arrivals to Greece in the five-month period also bounced back reaching 2.3 million compared to 1.5 million a year ago and up by 52.9 percent or an additional 779 international arrivals through border points.

Markets boosting road arrivals were Bulgaria up by 61.1 percent, followed by North Macedonia (+42.0 percent), Albania (+30.2 percent), and Turkey (+170 percent).

In total, international air and road arrivals to Greece totaled 7.6 million for the first five months of 2023, up from 2022 and marginally up from 2019 (7.5 million).

Crete, Greece.

Travel receipts in the four-month period to April 2023 increased by 38.0 percent over the same period in 2022 to 1.494 million euros and by 15.8 percent over pre-Covid 2019.

Analysts attribute the rise to a 20.5 percent increase in receipts from EU residents to 704 million euros and a 59.8 percent rise from non-EU travelers to 748.0 million euros.

Revenue drivers in the period under review were the French with receipts up by 36.6 percent, the UK (+18.0 percent), and the US (+93.9 percent).

Lastly, in May, Greece together with Cyprus scored an 87 percent score for hotel satisfaction ranking first on the general satisfaction index (GRI). Spain followed in second place with 85 percent, then Italy and Turkey (84 percent), and France (77 percent).