From climate change, the big summer sports events and the immediate factors that affect the world tourism industry the growth of the tourist year this year for Greece as well as competing countries. Indeed, on the occasion of the recent negative development regarding the bankruptcy of the German travel organizer FTI, the comment of the president of XEE, Alexandros Vassilikos, is typical, as he emphasizes that tourism proves once again that it does not lends itself to either. too much optimism or complacency, because on the one hand many data can be reversed at any time.
Although the current negative development does not seem to affect the general picture formed for 2024 in Greece, nevertheless more than 160,000 reservations are planned for this year, with 1/4 of them about the two months of April – May, you don’t have a small amount. However, what is certain is that the remaining Tour Operators are already fighting among themselves with the aim of recovering the existing bookings.
Crete, Naxos and Ios have the best beaches according to the Swiss
As far as the messages for the current tourist year, speaking to APE-MPE and the former president of POX Grigoris Tassios, a few days before the development of FTI, he emphasized that 2024 will move to the level of 2023. In fact, he talked about a freeze in bookings observed during this period, a result of the inflationary pressures faced by European households.
In fact, Mr. Tassios estimates that the two major sporting events of the summer, the Euro football and the Olympic Games in Paris will have an impact on the movements of European households this year. It is estimated that many will travel by road near the countries where the games will be held at the cost of air travel with tourist packages. In the meantime, the unstable factors related to climate change, it is possible to show disturbances in the areas where it develops and everyone wants the events like Rhodes last year to be no more. repeatable.
At this time, Tour Operators have scanned the performance of the regions of Greece and are in a hurry to close contracts with hoteliers for 2025, with the aim of achieving low prices, as highlighted. In any case, the next episode will shed more light on the development of tourism in Greece, which has so far been operating at a higher level compared to last year.
Air arrivals in Greece increased by 12.3% in the period January-April 2024
Specifically, according to INSATE data, in the period January-April 2024, 3.1 million international air arrivals were recorded, surpassing the level of January-April 2023, showing an increase of +12.3%. Meanwhile, April began with a slight 6% increase, with international air arrivals reaching 1.5 million. With reference to the regions that starred in the first quarter of the year, all geographical units, except the Cyclades, moved upwards. In particular, in the geographical unit of Crete, international air arrivals increased by 2.8% compared to last year, reaching 312 thousand.
Only the Cyclades operated with a decrease in arrivals in the four months of 2024
International air arrivals at Dodecanese airports reached 208 thousand, marking an increase of 11.3%. In the geographical unit of the Ionian Islands, an increase of 10.4% was recorded while 111 thousand international air arrivals were recorded.
In the geographical unit of the Peloponnese, international air arrivals reached 9 thousand registering an increase of 14.8%. On the Cyclades side, there were 45 thousand international air arrivals, showing a decrease of 8.7%. Finally, regarding road arrivals in the period January-April 2024, it was recorded 1.8 million international road arrivals, compared to 1.7 million in the period January-April 2023, which shows an increase of 5.1 %.