Greece Sees Q1 Int’l Arrivals Rise 18.7% to 1.6 Million

International arrivals to Greece increased by 18.7 percent in the first three months of the year compared to the same quarter in 2024 reflecting a growing demand and extended season.

According to data released this week by INSETE, the Greek Tourism Confederation’s (SETE) research body, Greek airports handled a total of 1.6 million international arrivals in the January-March period up from 253,000 a year earlier.

Broken down: 485,000 arrivals were reported in January increasing by 25.3 percent; 462,000 in February up by 19.5 percent, and in March 656,000 up by 13.8 percent.

Athens International Airport (AIA) welcomed 5.2 million arrivals in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 marking a 16.5 percent rise over the year-ago period.

Thessaloniki port.

Next in line, Thessaloniki Airport handled 371,000 international arrivals marking a 13.3 percent rise over Q1 2023.

On Crete, Heraklion airport welcomed 25,000 inbound arrivals, up by 40.4 percent over Q1 2023 and Chania Airport 9,000 arrivals up by 19.8 percent. Overall on Crete, Q1 international arrivals came to 34,000 up by 16.5 percent.

Other airports marking increases in international arrivals were those of Rhodes (+72.9 percent to 19,000), Kalamata (+42.5 percent to 3,000), and Corfu (4.1 percent to 8,000). Overall, in the Ionian Islands Region, arrivals dropped by 4.4 percent to 8,000 in Q1.

Tourists on Santorini.

Meanwhile, international traffic through Santorini Airport was down by 39.7 percent to 2,000 in the January-March period. The same applied to the Cyclades islands overall where arrivals dropped by 44.2 percent over 2023 to 2,000.

The Dodecanese islands welcomed 20,000 marking a 73.7 percent rise.

On the mainland, international arrivals to the Peloponnese came to 3,000 marking a 42.5 percent rise.