The financial and political turmoil Greece was found in during the first semester of the year did not deter travellers, according to data released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).
A Frontier Statistical Survey conducted by the Bank of Greece shows that arrivals of non-residents from abroad increased by 20.8 per cent in the period January-June 2015, compared to the corresponding months of 2014, while a 9.8 per cent rise was recorded in the numbers of Australian visitors.
More specifically, almost 49,000 Australians chose Greece as their holiday destination , accounting for 0.7 per cent of overall arrivals.
European countries head the field numbering approximately 6.5 million out of the 7.5 million visitors Greece welcomed in total during the aforementioned period.
Bulgaria, Germany and the United Kingdom were the countries of origin that contributed the biggest influx of incoming non-resident travellers.
A significant increase was observed in arrivals from Slovakia (633.3 per cent), Malta (320.6 per cent) and Egypt-Sudan (206.9 per cent) followed by Hungary, Bulgaria and Brazil.
Meanwhile Greece received around 150,000 visitors from Russia, a figure notably lower than last year’s performance which exceeded 380,000.
As regards the means of transport used, the majority of arrivals were by road or air, while railway was the least popular way of transfer.
A relevant chart reveals that the main points of entry by road were Promachonas, located in the northern part of the country at a major border crossing with Bulgaria, closely followed by Evzoni, the main entrance route to Greece from FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).
In terms of flight frequency, Athens holds the first place, accounting for 21.4 per cent of the total arrivals by air, while the airports of Iraklio and Rhodes come next with 9.1 and 6.7 per cent respectively.
