Good outlook for tourism on Santorini
The popular island of Santorini is expecting another bumper tourism year by extending the season across more months, say Mayor Anastasios-Nikolaos Zorzos and local hotelier association President Manolis Karamolegos.
Last year the Cycladic island enjoyed one of the highest growth rates in arrivals among Greek resorts: Air arrivals from abroad expanded by 27 percent year-on-year to reach 310,433, outperforming the yearly growth rate seen around the country (15.4 percent) in 2014.
This year, an increase in the number of flight bookings both from abroad and within Greece point to another great season for Santorini, says Zorzos. He adds that the promotion of the island will be boosted by advertising spots funded by Public Power Corporation to offset the damage the island suffered to its image last summer from a blackout in August.
Karamolegos stresses the importance of extending the tourism season, saying that the first charter flights from Germany will start arriving from March 27. German carriers Air Berlin and Niki asked the German office of the Greek National Tourism Organization for a list of hotels that will be open as of this month on the island. Karamolegos also reports the arrival of 30,000 tourists from November 2014 to last month, most of whom were Chinese and Koreans.
