Traffic at South Aegean airports is “taking off”

Air traffic of the five international airports of the South AegeanThe end of July soared the , reflecting the significant demand of the Dodecanese and Cyclades islands by foreign travelers, according to the South Aegean Tourism Initiative.

More specifically, the barrier of one million passengers broke before the end of July through more than 8,000 international flights to the islands of the South Aegean. July closed more dynamically than it started for the islands of the South Aegean, since on July 31, Santorini, Mykonos and Karpathos had already welcomed more visitors than those that visited them throughout the 2020 tourist season. But Rhodes was also , by the end of July, at 84% of the international air traffic of the previous year, while Kos at 75%.

Overall for the South Aegean, the percentage of international arrivals, from 13 May to 31 July, already amounts to 92% of last year, with the strongest, as observed continuously in recent years, month of the tourist season ahead. More specifically, Rhodes has received, for the above period, more than 490,000 visitors from abroad, while Kos over 240,000 travelers. The recovery of the international passenger traffic of Karpathos is spectacular, which before August, has already doubled the international arrivals compared to last year, recording more than 16,000 arrivals from abroad.

In the Cyclades, both the international airports of Santorini and Mykonos have already exceeded last year’s international arrivals by more than 120%, with about 180,000 passengers having already visited Santorini and more than 160,000 in Mykonos.

Main markets by destination in July

The German are in first places, with a big difference from the second placed Poles, for the month of July, among those who arrived in Rhodes, with the Danes following in third place, marking a dynamic recovery. The change in the ranking in Kos was made by the Dutch, who after the Germans, are second as concerns the traffic of Hippocrates airport, now bringing the Poles in third place.

The Italians and the French are the ones who are in the first two places respectively of the arrival table for Mykonos and Santorini. Especially for Mykonos, Switzerland emerges as an important market, the visitors of which are slightly more than the Germans and the British, while in the third and fourth place of the ranking for the airport of Santorini are Germans and Poles respectively.

The decisions of the British government affected the ranking of Great Britain, which, while in previous years was in the 1st or 2nd position of the air traffic at least for the airports of Diagoras (Rhodes) and Hippocrates (Kos), this year they fell to the 8th and the 7th position respectively. However, this did not prevent high performance at all five international airports in the South Aegean.

It is noted that the above data do not include the passengers who travel through the international airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” with domestic flights but also the passengers who travel through the ferry network.