Tourists last year amounted to 7.4 million
The worst year for global tourism saw Greece suffer an even worse decline in arrivals than the global average, the Institute of the Greek Tourism Confederation (INSETE) said on Friday. Against a mean international reduction of 74% from 2019, Greece posted a drop of 76.5%, welcoming only 7.4 million visitors against a record 31.3 million in 2019.
In January-December 2020, Greece recorded 5.9 million arrivals by air, from 21.5 million a year earlier, a 72.5% fall, with the Athens airport faring slightly better with a 68.5% reduction to about 2 million arrivals.
The Iraklio airport recorded 902,000 arrivals (down 72.7% from 2019), Thessaloniki’s Makedonia airport received 709,000 incoming passengers (-75%), Rhodes airport had 586,000 arrivals (-75%) and Corfu airport registered 404,000 visitors from abroad (-72.2%). Domestic air arrivals declined 50% last year, while the estimate in passenger numbers is for 9.4 million against 18.8 million in 2019.
Arrivals by road came to just 2.6 million last year, or 78.7% below the 2019 figure of 12.3 million, while cruise arrivals reached 66,874, against 5,537,500 in 2019, or a 99% decline, while cruise ship visits were down 95%.
