An international flight lands in Greece every 5 minutes - Record tourist numbers on the Greek islands

The demand for the South Aegean islands for the current tourist year in the international markets is still moving at high levels, which can be seen from the planned direct international air arrivals that took place in June.

Taking into account the figures of arrivals at the five international airports of the South Aegean (Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes, Kos and Karpathos) so far, it is now very likely that the arrivals of foreign visitors in 2022 to the Cyclades and Dodecanese will exceed the levels of 2019, the result of the successful strategy and management during the challenging two years of the pandemic.

According to data published by the South Aegean Initiative for Tourism, already this year so far, April exceeded the arrivals of April 2019 by 13% and May by 5%. Similarly, June presents a truly impressive course, surpassing by 13% the June of the last year before the pandemic.

Compared to the landmark year of 2019, all four islands of Rhodes, Kos, Mykonos, Santorini "took off" in June, recording more arrivals compared to 2019, at least until the 26th of the month.

In particular, in the Dodecanese, Rhodes and Kos moved with increases compared to 2019 of 8% and 3% respectively, while in the Cyclades the percentages are higher, 22% for Mykonos and 49% for Santorini.

One international flight every five minutes

In particular, only during the first 26 days of June, according to the official data of Fraport and CAA, 4,898 planes landed at the five international airports of the South Aegean carrying 771,941 passengers, of which approximately half (376,415) chose Rhodes, 182,410 Kos, 114,873 Santorini, 83,581 Mykonos and 14,662 Karpathos.

Characteristic of the high traffic enjoyed by the airports is that, as can be observed from the flight boards especially on peak days, an international flight lands every five minutes.

1,550,059 visitors have been attracted by the destinations of the South Aegean up until June 26 through direct flights, but when adding to the passengers arriving in the Cyclades and Dodecanese through the Athens International Airport El. Venizelos during the months of April and May, the number approaches 1,700,000.

Besides, the movement recorded in June and El. Venizelos is close to 94% of the same month in 2019, despite missing arrivals from important markets such as China, Russia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.

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