Industry Reports & Trends

The EU’s 65+ travelers account for one in five tourism nights, or 20 percent of the Union’s tourism activity but spend 20 percent less per day while on holiday, according to a Eurostat study released recently.

Passenger traffic numbers continued to reach new highs at Athens International Airport (AIA) in September.

Cruise tourists book more often with travel agencies and spend more money, according to a special survey released recently by the World Travel Monitor.

Greek hotels marked an increase in the number of online bookings and turnover in the second quarter of 2016 compared to the same period last year, according to Athens-based digital tourism experts Nelios.

Greeks took fewer holidays and cut their vacation period short in 2015, according to the latest data released by the country’s statistical authority ELSTAT, costing the local tourism industry up to 121 million euros in takings.

Between January and June 2016, destinations worldwide received 561 million international tourists, 21 million more than in 2015, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. For the remainder of 2016 prospects are positive overall.

Greece dropped five places in the rankings of 138 countries from 81st place to 86th in the Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017, released by the World Economic Forum.

Greece last year recorded an increase of 6.1 percent in arrivals and 3.9 percent in overnight stays in hotels, similar establishments and campsites, compared with 2014, according to data released recently by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

Although tourist arrivals to Greece this year are showing an upward trend – very close to the original target of 25 million – revenue seems to be falling below forecasts.

Greece’s airline market is seeing steady growth thanks in large part to the improvement of the country’s airport infrastructure and to the expansion of the tourist season, business services group ICAP found in a report.