French boost for Greek tourism
The French and the Poles constituted the two big surprises of the summer for Greek destinations, according to provisional data on foreign tourist arrivals in Greece. Island and mainland destinations alike reported a significant relative increase in visitors from France in particular this summer.
Arrival figures for July and August at Athens International Airport showed that the French have been the biggest group of visitors to date this summer, followed by the Germans and the British.
The French also rose to sixth spot among visitors at the country’s main regional airports, with the Germans staying on top. Surprisingly, the Poles ranked second in July, behind the Germans, and third in August, also rivaling the British. The Dutch and the Italians also were in the top six.
On Thursday AIA also reported the definitive passenger data for August, showing a 60.4% annual decrease to about 1.2 million passengers. International flights recorded a 66.2% decline, against a 47% drop in passengers on domestic flights. This was an improvement on the 70% slump recorded in July year-on-year. In the year’s first eight months, passenger figures at the country’s main airport suffered a 65.3% yearly slide.
