Tourism is resilient – Flights to Greece increased in August – What the data show

Greek tourism shows strong signs of resilience and recovery, despite the challenges of this summer.

According to the latest data from Eurocontrol, the European Aviation Safety Agency, Athens International Airport is one of the ten airports that handled the most arrivals and departures per day between 5 and 11 August.

In fact, in a sign of resilience, “Eleftherios Venizelos” has the second smallest drop in the number of flights compared to the same period in 2019, of the order of 15%, at a time when some of the most crucial hubs in Europe, such as the airports of Frankfurt, Madrid, Paris and Amsterdam recorded a “dip” between 28 and 37%.

Greece is 7th in flights

Eurocontrol data also show that Greece was 7th in air traffic on August 11, behind much larger populations – such as Germany, France and Turkey – and even had the second highest flight growth rate (+ 7%) over a two week period.

Only the United Kingdom (+ 12%) had a faster increase in arrivals and departures in that 14-day period.

The parallel “rise” of Greece and the United Kingdom is not a coincidence, as the routes of Ryanair and easyJet between the two countries were a key factor in increasing the total flights of the two airlines in the two weeks until August 11.

Eurocontrol’s data come in the wake of an article in the “Financial Times” according to which Greece emerges victorious in the fight for the recovery of tourism in Europe, based on the data of the specialized company OAG.

According to OAG, although the seats on the flights scheduled for August in Europe are reduced by 31% compared to the corresponding month of 2019, on the routes to Greece the seats are increased by 2%. This means that the August passenger traffic exceeds the levels of a record year for Greek tourism.