Tourism in Greece unaffected by wildfires

ATHENS - Tourist arrivals in Greece seem to be unaffected by the deadly wildfires that have caused 93 victims, Greek national news agency AMNA reported on Tuesday.

Data released by the Athens international airport "El. Venizelos" and Fraport, the company that manages 14 regional airports in the country, showed that foreign visitors didn't postpone their vacation in Greece despite the sad events and the number of arrivals remained at the expected levels.

There were no cancellations in international flights to and from Greece.

According to the data provided, airline seat occupancy for flights to tourist destinations is over 80 percent as predicted and the number of passengers in July remained on the rise compared with the same period in 2017.

The occupancy rate in flights to popular destinations such as Crete, Rhodes, Kos, Santorini, Mykonos, Paros, Corfu and Zakynthos was close to 100 percent, while in less popular destinations, it reaches 85-95 percent.

It is estimated that over 3.1 million foreign visitors travelled to Greece this July, an increase of 11-12 percent year-on-year. Arrivals from abroad are expected at the same levels both in August and September.

At the same time, the Greek Ministry of Tourism emphasizes that while Greece is being hit by the devastating fires, its services like the Greek Tourism Organization were constantly informing the foreign tour operators about the situation in Attica and the tourist destinations in order to ensure that the arrivals of foreign visitors continue as scheduled.

Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura expects that the number of international tourist arrivals to Greece this year will surpass the previous record of 30.5 million achieved in 2017.