Foreign tourist arrivals in Greece are expected to increase in the first month of autumn, depending on the number of airline seats booked. There are many airlines serving Greece from France such as: Transavia France, Air France, Aegean Airlines, easyJet, Wizz Air
Airline seat count exceeds four million
According to research organization INSETE, airlines’ total planned seat capacity to Greece on inbound international flights for September currently exceeds four million. This would be an increase of 7.3% compared to last year. If these seats are fully covered, Greece should expect this month to welcome more than 4 million travelers from key source markets including the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Poland and the United States.
During the summer there were almost 5 million seats
It should be noted that in July and August, Greece had 4.7 million seats scheduled from abroad, with an increase compared to last year reaching 3.9% and 3.4% respectively.
Most planned plane seats are in Thessaloniki, Athens and Rhodes
The results show that Thessaloniki Airport should expect the largest increase in arrivals for September. There would be an increase of 19.9% compared to the same month last year. The forecast number of airline seats stands at 315,000, with tourists coming from all major markets, such as Germany (up 10.2%) and the United Kingdom (up 8.9%) .
Athens International Airport forecasts an increase in arrivals of 15.4% and planned seats from more than 45 countries reaching 1.2 million.
Italy is the country with the most seats to Athens in September (120,000), followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Cyprus and the United States.
Rhodes, which has recovered from the July fires, has 437,000 seats scheduled from abroad, recording an increase of 7.1% compared to September 2022.
Kos is also seeing an increase (3.2%) in the number of planned seats and is expecting some 235,000 foreign tourists.
Other Greek destinations that saw an increase in the number of scheduled seats from abroad in September compared to the same month last year are Corfu (planned seats up 8.5% and over 345,000 tourists expected foreigners), Zakynthos (up 4.7%), Kefalonia (3.1%). ), Heraklion (5.6%) and Chania (10.1%).
Drop on Santorini and Mykonos
In contrast, the biggest drop in scheduled airline seats from abroad for September was recorded in Santorini (down 21.5%) and Mykonos (down 9.2%).
It is worth noting that the European Organization for Air Navigation Safety (Eurocontrol) recently published data indicating high air activity to Greece in the fall.
