Trade with Greece
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development, as it most probably reflects a specific
consumer behaviour with obvious positive effects
on local markets.
If road arrivals account for 34% of total foreign visitor
arrivals in Greece, arrivals by plane account for
63.4%. In the previous year, the “Eleftherios
Venizelos” Athens International Airport, attracted the
highest traffic volume, followed by the airports of
Heraklion, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, and Chania. It
should be noted that the exceptional performance of
“El. Venizelos” reflects to a great extent the corre-
sponding tourist performance of Athens during 2015.
It is very interesting indeed that Google searches
for “Travel in Greece” increased by 19% last year,
while mobile handset searches surged by 72%!
Most Internet searches for travel to Greece origi-
nated in the UK, Germany, Italy, the US, and
France. The top-20 destinations in terms of search-
es include Athens, Crete, Rhodes, the
Peloponnese, Thessaloniki, Lefkada, and Santorini.
Moreover, according to a survey conducted by
TripAdvisor, the world’s leading travel website, in
2016 travel will be mostly affected by the prices of
air fares and accommodation, the opportunity
offered to tourists to get acquainted with new things,
the weather and, evidently, the destinations’ securi-
ty level. In regard to hotels in particular, Greek ones
are included in the top-ten of the global hotel com-
munity, and their prices for the current year will
include new benefits for the tourists that will
choose to visit Greece.
Therefore, there are well-grounded estimates that,
under certain conditions, tourism growth will be fur-
ther enhanced in 2016. There will be even more
recurring visitors, either because they like the des-
tination or because they appreciate the atmos-
phere of stability prevailing in Greece. Professor
Paris Tsartas, who teaches Tourist Growth at the
University of the Aegean, says that “barring the
unexpected, there is a strong possibility for a very
good year”, stressing that “positive performance is
not coincidental” and attributing the tourist growth
of the past few years to three main factors: consis-
tent advertising through alternative images, the
stabilisation and reduction of prices, and the
favourable effects of upheaval in surrounding
regions. Undoubtedly, there is still much to be
done, including the coveted extension of the tourist
season, with the island of Santorini operating as a
12-month destination and acting as an “example
and symbol”, without of course ignoring “the good
performance recorded in Athens.” Given this
opportunity, it should be noted that the capital’s
There are well-grounded
estimates that,
under certain conditions,
tourism growth will be
further enhanced in 2016.
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