International arrivals on the increase post summer season

The Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) released data on Thursday showing an increase on international arrivals in October, compared to the same period last year.

According to the SETE report international passenger arrivals in Greek airports rose 5.7%, or 91,000 more passengers in October compared with the same period last year, reflecting a 9.6% (49,000 arrivals) increase in the Athens airport, while arrivals in the Mykonos airport jumped 35.5% in the month.

Similarly regional airports recorded a 3.8% increase in arrivals totalling 1.1 million passengers, or 5.0% up in the January-October period totalling 20.5 million passengers.

SETE said travel proceeds jumped 14% in the January-September period to 16.088 billion euros, compared with the same month last year, with proceeds from EU citizens rising 3.6% to 11.178 billion euros, while proceeds from non-EU passengers rose 15.8% to 4.546 billion euros.

More specifically, in October, a 39 % of reservations were mid-week travel, a 34% were weekend travels and 29% holiday travels, down from 43%, 38% and 20% in October 2018, respectively. The main reservation market for Greece in October was the UK, with the German market climbing sector and French third, followed by Israel and Italy.

Hotel prices fell in all categories in October with the exception of thee-start hotels in Athens. Hotel prices rose in all categories in Barcelona and Istanbul. Prices fell in five-star hotels in Rome.