Britons, Germans, Italians, Poles and French make up the top 5 overseas visitors in July to Greece, with the British, in particular, taking the lead as Germans are travelling less abroad this summer due to income pressures and the economic situation.
From the data for July on passenger traffic at the 14 regional airports managed by Fraport Greece and including the country's leading island destinations, it follows that in the "heart" of the tourist season, the arrivals from the two largest inbound tourism markets for our country, the United Kingdom, exceeded 630,000, while those from Germany reached 393,000.
Arrivals from Italy almost reached 315,000, while 121,000 and 110,000 visitors came from Poland and France, respectively.
The Netherlands is also doing very well, from which more than 110,000 tourists landed in July, while below the 100,000 mark are the arrivals from Denmark, Austria, Sweden and the Czech Republic, which complete the top 10 of July arrivals at 14 regional airports managed by Fraport Greece.
Passenger traffic in July
In total, passenger traffic at the 14 regional airports (Aktio, Chania, Corfu, Kavala, Kefalonia, Thessaloniki, Zakynthos, Kos, Mytilini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos) exceeded 6.18 million for the first time this year July, up 4.5% from July 2022's 5.9 million passengers, which had already moved higher than July 2019's also high (5.32 million passengers).
Exceptions to the rise were three airports: First, Mykonos with a total of 394,000 passengers and Santorini with 505,000 marking a drop of 0.8% and 4% compared to 2022 but also compared to 2019 and in addition, Rhodes with 1.096 million passengers marking a decline by 4.2% compared to the record of 2022.
However, the island, tested at all levels due to the devastating fires, continued to move higher this July compared to July 2019, before the pandemic, with an increase of 5.8%.
In all three airports, however, the decrease is due to the drop in international traffic, given that the numbers in the domestic network remain on the rise. Among the major airports, on an entire recovery trajectory, with an increase compared to 2022 and (now) 2019, is Thessaloniki, where the total passenger traffic in July exceeded 823,000.
At seven-month levels, for the period January-July 2023, the total passenger traffic at the 14 regional airports reached just under 18 million passengers (17.959 million), with an increase of 10.7% compared to 2022 and a corresponding increase of 10.5%, compared to 16.25 million in 2019.
A negative sign, minus 2.7% compared to 2022, is recorded by Mykonos with 865,000 passengers and a drop of 7.2% in international traffic, while Santorini remains positive in seven months with 1.48 million passengers and an increase of 3.8 % compared to last year's seven-month record due to enhanced domestic traffic.
However, even in this case, international traffic, with 795,000 passengers, shows a drop in seven months by 7.9%. With 3.22 million passengers in the seven months, Rhodes remains positive, with an increase of 6.6% compared to the January-July period of 2022, which was also a record year for the island.
International traffic was formed in the seven months at 2.76 million passengers, marking an increase of 4.2% compared to last year's seven months.
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