Summer season tourist traffic "pleasing to the eye"

According to experts, all indications are that this summer season will close with a comparable or even stronger performance in the tourism sector compared to the record year of 2019.

Nearly 2.5 years after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, passenger traffic at airports and highways is again catching up with the “pre-pandemic era”. And even at a time when fuel prices are hitting one record after another, there are signs of increasing interest in tourism in Greece, both among locals and foreign visitors.

In the first five months of 2022, the Athens-Thessaloniki motorway section saw a 2.85% increase in traffic compared to 2019, while Ionia Odos (Antirrio Ioanina) recorded an impressive growth of 9.2% compared to 2019. This record clearly shows the desire of drivers to travel after a long period of quarantine.

The same picture is seen on the rest of the country’s highways, except that the summer season of 2022 is likely to set a new record for the movement of vehicles on the main roads, writes imerisia.gr.

Athens airport is also on the rise

In aviation, we also see a breakthrough. In May, 1.38 million international passengers were served. This is the highest figure since October 2019 (for 31 months), when 1.63 million passengers were served. In 2021, even in August, this level of traffic on international flights was not recorded (1.37 million passengers).

Since the beginning of the year, the difference in passenger traffic from 2019 has been constantly decreasing. From -44.5% in January to -37% in February, then to -28.1% in March, to -15.2% in April and now to -10.2% in May.

According to sources familiar with the situation, during the summer it is very likely not only to negate the difference, but also to see, in almost 2.5 years, an increase in passenger traffic.

At regional airports, the picture is even better. In May, passenger traffic reached 96% of the volume of the same month in 2019, we can hope that the summer will pass with a positive sign.

In fact, three airports broke the 2019 record. Santorini with an increase of 5.1%, Rhodes with a marginal increase of 1.2% and Aktio with an impressive +26%. Thessaloniki Airport also recorded figures similar to those of Athens as it accounted for 89% of traffic in 2019.

Shipping and railroads “keep up”

Traffic during the Three Days of the Holy Spirit in important destinations in the Aegean recorded numbers equal to the corresponding period in 2019. This applies to the ports of Piraeus, Lavrio and Rafina.

And finally, the passenger traffic on the railway is also very pleasing. According to industry data, there has been an increase in traffic since March, which has continued through the Easter period and into today. An important element is the relative increase in the number of seats due to the launch high-speed train ETR 470which has recently started serving the Athens-Thessaloniki line.

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