Greek tourism’s positive signs from early bookings, air passengers
“The January pre-bookings for this year’s tourist season are 20% higher compared to the corresponding ones in 2019,” Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said on Monday in an interview on Mega TV, noting that even in the last quarter of 2022 travel revenues supported citizens and the average Greek family, proving that tourism constitutes the popular economy of the country.
Kikilias pointed out that a total of 1.44 million passengers used Eleftherios Venizelos Airport in January, and a 5% increase was recorded in passengers from abroad compared to 2019.
He made special reference to the impressive recovery of the cruise sector and the even better figures expected in 2023.
Apart from Thessaloniki – where cruise ship dockings were 10 times higher compared to 2019 and at least 70 arrivals are already planned by 13 companies and 21 different cruise ships for 2023 – the minister pointed out that 807 cruise ships are expected to dock in the port of Piraeus this year, which means a 19% increase compared to 2022, a year that surpassed the performance of the pre-pandemic period.
