Northern Greece, which includes its capital Thessalonikiexpected to see an increase in tourist arrivals, according to forecasts Halkidiki Hotel Association President Grigoris Tassios.
Pre-reservations for Greece in the UK market are up 18 percent for the upcoming holiday season, he said. At the same time, northern Greece expects more arrivals from neighboring Balkan countries, increased road flows and an increased number of cruise ship calls, from 63 to 76 .
Tasios presented the data during the event “Opportunities to improve tourist flows in northern Greece” organized by the Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Addressing the event, Tasios said road tourism was a high priority for northern Greece as it generated more tourism revenue. Citing INSETE data, Tasios said 8,988,546 tourists arrived by road between January and September. Up from 6,626,247 for all of 2022 and up from 10,254,240 in pre-Covid 2019.
The main source markets supporting road tourism to Greece include Romania, Turkey, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Albania.
At the same time, Thessaloniki and Kavala airports welcomed almost 2 million arrivals in the nine months to September this year, very close to the 2019 annual figure.
Meanwhile, in relevant news, Thessaloniki tourism stakeholders expect transport modernization projects, including a flyover that will facilitate traffic in the city center, the metro and the port-station-national highway connection to stimulate arrivals. However, concerns remain about serious disruption to businesses during the construction period.
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