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South Aegean Reports Booming Tourist Arrivals in August
Posted On 29 Aug 2022
Photo source: Visit Greece
The latest tourism figures for the Region of the South Aegean continue to register positive levels and are moving on a steady upward trend.
According to August data released by the South Aegean Tourism Initiative (SATI), international arrivals to the region’s islands continue to be steadily higher compared to pre-Covid 2019, since March 27, when the 2022 tourist season began.
The data showed that international arrivals for the first 20 days of August increased by 16 percent compared to the corresponding period of pre-Covid 2019. All four international airports of the South Aegean, located on Rhodes, Kos, Mykonos and Santorini, saw “record arrival numbers”, attracting more than 700,000 passengers during August 1-21.
“These figures make 2022 as the best year for tourism in the history of the islands,” SATI said.
Aircraft landing on Rhodes. Photo source: South Aegean Tourism Initiative
Since the beginning of the tourism season in late March, Rhodes has already exceeded 1.7 million visitors from abroad, Kos has welcomed more than 800,000 travelers, Mykonos has welcomed 450,000 tourists and Santorini has exceeded half a million international arrivals.
Moreover, the international airport of Karpathos in the southeastern Aegean has welcomed some 57,000 arrivals.
Over 4 million tourists for 2022 season so far
According to SATI, when also adding the travelers that landed at the five airports between April and July via Athens International Airport (AIA), international arrivals to the South Aegean islands have exceeded 4 million since the start of the season.
“At the same time, all indications from bookings and flight planning indicate that this strong performance will continue for the rest of the month (August) and for autumn,” SATI said.
The South Aegean Tourism Initiative is made up of local tourism, trade and hospitality professionals and their relevant associations and chambers.
Shame that it is totally unsustainable. Most of the arrivals in Kos stay in huge AI resorts and are unable to leave due to only 70 taxis on the island which are needed constantly at the airport. A very old hospital which is severely lacking I. Doctors and don’t even get me started on rubbish collection and old houses left to fall down. It’s time we concentrated on quality not quantity. I have been in tourism and Kos arrivals have always gone up yearly since 1981 except for two Covid years.
Christine I totally agree. As an “ international “ visitor who stays on Paros for 3 months each year I can see how your infrastructure can not sustain these numbers. Yesterday I visited Santorini for one day only and will never ever return. Rubbish everywhere. Traffic jams. No taxis. It’s pure greed. Mass tourism at its worst. I wish you luck in maintaining your beautiful country’s culture and planning. If not careful your tourists will not return.