Carrots – the surprise of the season

Increased demand for travel compared to last summer to lesser-known island destinations, as evidenced by reservations and passenger traffic data for domestic airlines. Saturation and massive price hikes in top tourist destinations coupled with the offer of deep discount packages by airlines have boosted tourists’ preference for regional places, Such as Astypalaia, Karpathos, Lemnos and Leros.

According to market players, the demand growth rate in these regions is only declining due to their limited infrastructure. In particular, on the fifteenth day of July, on an annual basis, It is estimated that the number of passengers on islands with ever-low tourist demand, where the Aegean region operates, has increased from 15% to 20%.

Indicatively, the number of Greek and foreign visitors increased by as much as 80% in Naxoswith the corresponding percentage being 50% for the second largest island of the Dodecanese, Karpathos.

By more than 40%, passenger traffic is formed onKefalonia, Lemnos and Leros Which attracts travelers due to its affordable cost of living, compared to tourist destinations which are topping the demand.

Also, it includes the list of destinations that have seen a significant increase in passenger traffic The Ionian Islands, such as Zakynthos, the Sporades, such as Skiathos, and the eastern North and East Aegean, i.e. Ikaria, Chios and Lesbos.

For the respective islands, demand growth rates are lower – but higher than in 2022 – Recorded by Samos, Kythira, Melos, and Paroswhich is mostly attributed to the limited capacity of their infrastructures.

In these destinations, the rate of increase in passenger traffic is several times higher than in the leading islands such as Mykonos and Santorini, where the number of smuggled passengers to and from increased by more than 15% respectively in the first two weeks of July in relation to the corresponding period of 2022.

The number of Greek and foreign visitors increased by up to 80% in Naxos and 50% in Karpathos during the first 15 days of July.

Although the two most popular destinations in the Cyclades improved in terms of flight occupancy rates, the total number of passengers handled by Mykonos and Santorini airports decreased, year on year, by 3.1% and 1.3% in June. , respectively. One of the reasons for this decline is due to the fact that in the first month of summer, flights to Mykonos and Santorini were 10.2% and 7.2% lower, respectively.

Aiming to increase demand, Aegean has recently increased available seats to and from Sitia, Skyros and Lemnos, providing more attractive fares. This has, according to the information, increased demand to rates of over 130% for Sitia and Skyros and over 45% for Lemnos.

Completing the interconnection between destinations, spreading visitors to 13 regions of the country, and additional spatial and temporal expansion of the tourist season is one of the main goals of the new leadership of the Ministry of Tourism under Olga Kefalogiani. Today, according to a study by the Institute of the Confederation of Greek Tourist Companies (INSETE), 83.5% of tourists visit five regions, namely the southern Aegean Sea, Attica, Central Macedonia, Crete and the Ionian Islands.