Tourism arrivals to Greece reached 11 million in the first half of 2017, according to figures supplied this week by the Greek Tourism Confederation’s (SETE).
Specifically, arrivals by plane or overland by car accounted 10.97 million arrivals, up from 10.11 million during the same period of 2016.
SETE’s six-month report showed that arrivals by air travel reached 6.53 million, up from 5.99 million during the first half of 2016, an increase of 10.5 percent. Arrivals by car or coach also posted an increase of 6.1 percent, yoy, for the first half of 2017.
The forecast for 2017 is an increase of 8.5 percent in arrivals by air travel.
The closely watched figures for Greece’s regional airports – 14 of which are now managed by Fraport Greece since late March 2017 – showed an increase of 13.4 percent in terms of arrivals just for June.
In a related tourism development, figures supplied by the Greece’s Hellenic Chamber of Hotels show that the number of units in the country with “all inclusive” holiday packages is just 2.2 percent of the total, but accounting for 13.6 percent of the total number of hotel rooms.
In reply to a relevant question by a leftist SYRIZA deputy in Parliament, Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura said such tourism packages in Greece are not the norm, “in fact, I would say that all-inclusive (packages) are a very small percentage of the total in the country.”
The tabled question came by MP Ilias Kamateros, who is elected from the Dodecanese election district, and who hails from the island of Kos, considered as having one of the highest percentages of all-inclusive resorts and hotels in the country.
Kamateros’ question referred to “repercussions” on local communities from such tourism packages.
