Arrivals post healthy rise in January

By Stathis Kousounis

The tourism year appears to have got off on the right foot with a healthy increase in arrivals from abroad at the airports of Athens and Thessaloniki leading to a considerable growth in total arrivals in the first month of 2014.

Civil Aviation Authority data seen by Kathimerini show a 14.7 percent rise year-on-year in arrivals from abroad in January, reaching 308,726 this year compared with 269,266 in January 2013.

Arrivals at the Eleftherios Venizelos Athens International Airport grew by 12.4 percent. At the Macedonia Airport in Thessaloniki they rose by 17.9 percent on an annual basis.

Last year, when arrivals posted a new record over the 12-month period, January had seen a 12.9 percent decline from the same month in 2012.