The Institute for Touristic Research and Forecasts (ITEP) released its latest findings and it shows that tourism for Greece is down 7.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009, largely as a result of the world financial crisis. ITEP also noted that Greece was affected more in tourism foreign exchange receipts, which were down 18.2 percent.
Greek airports, excluding Athens, saw a 3 percent drop in arrivals for Q1, while the Athens International Airport had a whopping 9.8 percent drop in arrivals. Combined, the country saw a decline of 7.0 percent for airport arrivals in the first three months of 2009. One reason for the large drop in Athens is that the convention and business tourism sector for Athens and Thessaloniki has seen a significant drop so far this year, a direct result of the economic times. Other destinations, which are more oriented towards holiday travelers and traditional tourism, have not had the same drop.
The Dodecanese Islands were an indicator of this, as they saw an 18.5 percent increase in tourism arrivals for the first four months of the year. Rhodes was up 26.4 percent, with Hania up 23 percent. Some of the smaller islands, however, saw large decreases in visits.
Across Europe as a whole, Croatia and Portugal were the biggest losers in terms of tourist arrivals with drops of 21 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
Useful Resources
