Int’l arrivals rise in July

for air and road arrivals in July paint a positive picture of the tourism season this year, according to the the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE). International air arrivals rose by 9.1 percent compared to July 2015, while the total figure for the first seven months of the year showed an increase of 6.4 percent. Road arrivals rose 1.6 percent but fell overall for the first seven months by 4.8 percent. The data from SETE point to 276,000 additional arrivals in the country in July. International air arrivals increased on Crete and the Ionian and Cycladic islands to the tune of 12.8 percent, 13.3 percent and 8.7 percent respectively compared with July 2015.

Athens and Thessaloniki saw rises of 9.5 percent and 11.4 percent respectively, while Kos, Samos and Mytilene observed declines of 13 percent, 16.3 percent and 62 percent respectively.

Domestic arrivals at Athens International Airport rose 9.5 percent in July and 12.6 percent for the year’s first seven months. Regional airports showed an increase in domestic traffic of 9 percent in July and 13.8 percent for January-July.

Road arrivals posted a small increase of 1.6 percent for the first seven months, with 30,000 more arrivals than the same period last year. Last year’s capital controls negatively influenced last July’s figures.

Road arrivals rose 46.2 percent from Turkey, 3.7 percent from Bulgaria and 3.8 percent from Albania. Road arrivals from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia fell 7.2 percent.