Greek Tourism Expected To Soar With More Flights In 2014
After last year’s record 17.92 million arrivals, the momentum is continuing.
Greece should expect another record year in tourism, according to recently released data on the expected passenger traffic at the country’s airports in 2014.
Forecasts and requests made by foreign airlines to operate from Greece for the summer season suggest that one thing is for sure: Greece will have a place on the global tourism map as a major destination this summer.
More flights, more arrivals
Athens is expected to record a major increase in its passenger traffic this summer as leading carriers are resuming flights from the Greek capital city.
The majority of Greece’s regional airports are also expecting a significant increase in traffic from both scheduled flights and charter flights that will be launched directly from mainly island destinations.
According to reports, Heraklion, Rhodes, Corfu, Skiathos and Kalamata are expected to see a major increase in arrivals based on the increased amount of requests submitted by foreign airlines to fly from those destinations.
Thessaloniki International Airport “Macedonia” will be quite busy this tourism season with the addition of a second Istanbul-Thessaloniki route by Turkish Airlines as of 1 May.
Air Serbia will also connect Thessaloniki to Belgrade via two daily flights and routes have already been added from Athens to Thessaloniki by Ryanair.
Summer hotspot Mykonos is getting ready to welcome more tourists this year as the island will be connected with 28 destinations.
Direct flights to the Greek Islands
Many direct flights will link the Greek islands with various international destinations this summer.
EasyJet is planning new routes: Heraklion-Edinburgh, Kos-Glasgow, Mykonos-Naples and Corfu-Naples.
Transavia will connect Amsterdam to many Greek destinations: Chania, Chios, Corfu, Heraklion, Kavala, Karpathos, Kefalonia, Kos, Heraklion, Santorini and Mykonos.
Flights to Greece have also been announced by airberlin, Germanwings and Condor that will connect German cities with Heraklion, Kos, Santorini, Mykonos, Preveza and Corfu.
Turkish airline Bora Jet will launch a direct Mykonos-Istanbul route as of 19 June. The airline will also launch a direct flight to Santorini.
Reports mentioned that the Civil Aviation Authority is planning actions at Greece’s regional airports so they are able to meet the increased demand this summer.