Greek Airports See 2016 Int’l Arrivals Rise by 7.4%

Greek airports saw international arrivals rise by 7.4 percent in 2016, compared with the year before, according to the research body of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) .

In its two-year review of international arrivals to Greece and citing data from the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority and Athens International Airport (AIA), SETE Intelligence on Monday said that the total of international air arrivals are estimated at 18.4 million for 2016, compared with 17.1 million in 2015.

Seat capacity to Greece in 2016 amounted to 23 million, an increase of 1.34 million additional seats compared to 2015.

According to the data, Athens Airport welcomed the most international arrivals with a 10.5 percent increase to 6.38 million passengers. The country’s regional airports saw a 5.8 percent rise to 12 million international arrivals.

Greece saw the most international arrivals last year from the United Kingdom (3.3 million arrivals), followed by Germany (2.9 million), Italy (1.6 million), France (1 million) and  Russia (819 km). The sixth top market to Greece last year was The Netherlands (745,000 international arrivals) and Poland was in the seventh place with 728,000 international arrivals. Greece’s list of top markets in regards to international arrivals  continues with Cyprus (726,000), Switzerland (642,000) and Sweden (568,000).

According to the data, international arrivals to Greece last year dropped from Belgium (down by 40,0000 arrivals), Austria (down by 23,000) and Turkey (down by 89,000).

The airports to which SETE’s data refers to include those in Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Chania, Corfu, Zakynthos, Kefalonia, Aktion, Rhodes, Kos, Mykonos, Santorini, Araxos, Kalamata, Samos, Skiathos, Kavala, Mytilene, Karpathos, Chios, Volos and Alexandroupolis.

The data concerns international arrivals that include trips Greeks have made from countries abroad.