Athens’ Arrivals ‘Rescue’ April 2015 Figures

Photo source: AIA

International tourist arrivals to Greece grew by 6.6 percent in April mainly thanks to Athens which recorded a 21.3 percent increase in air arrivals.

According to figures released by the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) on Tuesday, the upward trend in tourist arrivals by air to most of Greece’s airports came to a halt last month as several regional airports recorded a significant reduction.

Arrivals last month dropped year-on-year at the airports of the popular Greek destinations of Mykonos (-31.1 percent), Kos (-26.9 percent), Kefalonia (-50 percent) and Heraklio-Crete (-7.4 percent). Other airports that recorded a drop in arrivals include those in Thessaloniki, Skiathos, Zakynthos, Aktio, Kavala and Mytilini (Lesvos).

Destinations that did see an increase in arrivals last month were Santorini, Rhodes, Chania (Crete), Araxos, Kalamata, Samos and Karpathos.

For the first four months of the year, arrivals to Greece increased by 17.5 percent compared to the same perioed last year. According to the figures, the increase was mainly attributed to arrivals in Athens and Thessaloniki during the January-April period, which were up by 27 percent and 13.7 percent respectively.