The large discrepancy in air and road arrivals in Greece

By Fotis Fotinos

Air and road arrivals maintain different dynamics in Greece. According to data from the Institute of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (INSETE), in the first half of the year air arrivals closed with a decrease of 8.1% compared to the corresponding period of 2019.

On the contrary, roads remain at low levels compared to 2019, as they are maintained at -41.3% in the first half.

The performance of air arrivals

In the period January – June 2022, 7.3 million air arrivals were recorded, compared to 7.9 million in the period January – June 2019, showing a decrease of -8.1%/-641 thousand arrivals.

In particular, in January 178 thousand arrivals were recorded, showing a decrease of -52.6%/-198 thousand, in February 223 thousand arrivals, showing a decrease of -37.9%/-136 thousand, while in March 338 were recorded thousand, showing a decrease of -31.6%/-155 thousand arrivals.
In April there were 1.1 million arrivals, showing a decrease of -10.2%/-125 thousand and in May there were 2.2 million, showing a decrease of -4.6%/-106 thousand.

In June, international air arrivals stood at 3.2 million and for the first time in 2022, there was an increase of +79 thousand/+2.5%.

First half performance by airport

In the period January – June 2022, 2.1 million international air arrivals were recorded at Athens International Airport, showing a decrease of -616 thousand/-23.0%.

It was followed by Thessaloniki airport, where 809 thousand international air arrivals were recorded, showing a decrease of -206 thousand/-20.3%.
At Heraklion airport a decrease of -49 thousand/-4.3% was recorded, international air arrivals reached 1.1 million, while at Chania airport arrivals reached 454 thousand, showing an increase of +22 thousand/+ 5.1%.

At the airport of Rhodes, 854 thousand international air arrivals were recorded, showing an increase of +56 thousand/+7.0%, while at the airport of Kos international air arrivals were formed at 392 thousand, recording a marginal decrease of -2 thousand/-0 .5%.

Mykonos airport saw an increase of +20 thousand/+14.1%, while international air arrivals reached 165 thousand and Santorini airport recorded 257 thousand arrivals, showing an increase of +78 thousand/+43.7% .

In Corfu, international air arrivals amounted to 539 thousand, showing an increase of +37 thousand/+7.3% and in Aktio the international
air arrivals reached 120 thousand, showing an increase of +24 thousand/+25.6%. On the contrary, in Zakynthos and Kefalonia 273 thousand and 110 thousand arrivals were recorded, showing a decrease of -6 thousand/-2.1% and -1 thousand/-1.0% respectively.

Finally, at Skiathos airport, air arrivals were 67 thousand, recording an increase of +9 thousand/+15.9%.

Big gap compared to 2019 in road arrivals

In contrast to air arrivals, in road arrivals the “gap” remains wide compared to 2019.

In the period January – June 2022, 2.4 million international road arrivals were recorded, compared to 4.0 million in the period January – June 2019, showing a decrease of -41.3%/-1.7 million road arrivals.
In particular, in January 170 thousand arrivals were recorded, showing a decrease of -63.2%/-292 thousand, in February 175 thousand arrivals, showing a decrease of -61.2%/-276 thousand and in March 238 thousand. , showing a decrease of -47.7%/-217 thousand arrivals.

The decline continued in April, when 320 thousand arrivals were recorded, showing a decrease of -51.8%/-343 thousand and in May 569 thousand, the decrease amounted to -16.3%/-111 thousand.

In June, the recovery worsened and a decrease of -32.2%/-429k was recorded as road arrivals stood at 905k.
In the period January – June 2022, only two border stations registered an increase: the border station of Doirani, by +9 thousand/+8.6%, with 117 thousand road arrivals and the border station of Ormenios by +19 thousand/ +15.8%, with 136 thousand road arrivals.

On the contrary, the greatest decrease, both in percentage and in absolute differences, is recorded at the Nymphaea station, where the decrease amounts to
to -81.7%/-550 thousand, while only 124 thousand arrivals are recorded.
The number of road arrivals at Promachona station is noteworthy, where in the mentioned period they amount to 402 thousand, recording a decrease of -348 thousand/-46.4%.

Finally, the road arrivals at the border station of Evzones amounted to 676 thousand, while a decrease of -249 thousand/-26.9% was recorded.
In the period January – June 2022, a decrease was recorded by all neighboring countries, compared to the corresponding period of 2019.
In particular, the biggest decrease in absolute differences is recorded by Bulgaria by -940 thousand/-55.1%, followed by North Macedonia by -306 thousand/-25.9%.

The decrease from Turkey amounted to -221 thousand/-58.6%, while the biggest improvement was recorded by the Albanian market, showing a decrease of -25.9% or -202 thousand road arrivals.