Industry Reports & Trends

Athens International Airport announced another record-breaking year with a total of 16.5 million passengers in 2007, an impressive 10 percent increase from its 15.1 million passengers in 2006. There was an eight percent increase in the number of flights that for the first time surpassed the 200,000 flights threshold with 205,294 flights in 2007 compared with 190,872 in 2006.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), in cooperation with Oxford Economics, recently produced the results of research that indicates continued growth for the travel sector in 2008 despite the repercussions of ongoing global concerns. WTTC leaders revealed that the industry will “moderately be impacted” and signaled continued growth rates for 2008 “at a reduced pace.”

Eurocontrol, the European organization for the safety of air navigation, has released an analysis of traffic and delays in Europe in 2007 and predictions for 2008. According to the results of the analysis the number of flights in Europe increased to some 10 million in 2007, a 5.3 percent increase from 2006. Average daily traffic in Europe in 2007 was 27,676 flights per day compared with 26,286 in 2006.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently released full-year traffic results for 2007. The results show international passenger traffic demand grew 7.4 percent for the year 2007 that is a considerable increase from the 5.9 percent increase recorded in 2006. In December 2007 passenger traffic demand rose 6.7 percent, a large decrease from the 9.3 percent jump recorded in November. According to IATA, “This sudden decrease reflects the impact of rising prices and economic uncertainty that grew more acute in December.”

American Express Business Travel recently released a survey of European business traveler’s “Loves and Hates” that indicates despite the current economic downturn and ongoing cuts in corporate spending, 93 percent of participants believe they would be traveling for business just as frequently or even more in 2008.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) announced 2008 would be a record year for the cruise industry with their members carrying some 12.8 million passengers, of which 10.5 million are from North America and 2.3 million from other markets.

Amadeus, a leading provider of solutions to the travel industry for the management of distribution and selling of travel services, recently held an event in Athens where results from research revealed the Internet and new technology hold many opportunities for Greek travel agencies. Hermes Management Consulting conducted the study on behalf of Amadeus.

The Hellenic Chamber of Hotels recently held its final meeting for 2007 in the presence of Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos and the political leadership of the Greek National Tourism Organization.

The Attica Hotel Association recently announced the statistics on hotel occupancy for November 2007, and claims “tourism traffic during the holiday period showed neither positive nor encouraging results and remains stagnant.”

Andrew Holden’s book “Tourism Studies and the Social Sciences” was recently released in Greek by Papazisi Publications and translated by Professor Thomas Mavrodonti of the Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki. This book is the second in the series “Library of Tourism Studies,” and according to the publisher, aims to enrich tourism bibliography in Greece.