Tourism is full of ‘engines’, a 28% increase in airline seats from abroad

of Vicky Kourlibini

May premieres dynamically, with scheduled airfare from abroad being up 28% in the first week of the month compared to the previous one.

According to the data presented in the recovery tracker of the Institute of the Hellenic Tourism Business Association, with data from the travel data measurement company OAG, during the week from 2 to 8 May, 500 thousand air seats have been planned, 110 thousand more compared to week from April 25 to May 1.

The numbers show that the demand for travel in Greece is growing stronger as the days go by, with tourism entrepreneurs now being very optimistic about the course of the season, despite the freezing of bookings observed in March, due to the Russian-Ukrainian of war.

In fact, as they estimate, the coming weeks will bring even better performance, as the travel restrictions are removed, as well as the demonstration of the vaccination and disease certificate.

It is reminded that according to a decision of the Ministry of Health, the suspension of covid pass from May 1 and the restoration of the capacity to 100% is valid, as well as the suspension of EUDCC certificate at the entrance gates of the country.

Flow from all major markets

Demand for airline seats is high from all key markets for Greek tourism and especially from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, the USA and Israel.

In terms of traffic at airports, after the capital follow Heraklion, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Corfu, Kos, Chania, Santorini, Mykonos and Zakynthos.

At the same time, the occupancy of the accommodations, which in a large percentage have already opened in the popular tourist destinations, is starting to increase. After the very high occupancy of Easter and May Day, bookings record a significant increase, both for May and June, with occupancy estimated to start at 60%. For July already the first signs are very encouraging.

What will happen to the revenue

In the critical part of tourism revenues, although officially the tourism operators do not set a quantitative target for this year’s revenues, professionals expect that revenues can range over 16 billion, even approaching eighteen.

In 2019, travel receipts increased by 12.8% compared to 2018, reaching 18.2 billion euros. The increase in travel receipts was a result of the increase in the average expenditure per trip by 8.5%, as well as the increase in incoming travel traffic by 4.1%.

Arrivals reached 31.3 million travelers, compared to 30.1 million travelers in 2018.