ECONOMY

Arrivals fell in top tourism destinations last month

The impact of ongoing uncertainty has become apparent in arrival figures at the country’s top tourism destinations, data released by tourism professional association SETE show.

Figures show that in April there was a year-on-year drop in arrivals of 26.9 percent at the airport in Kos, 22.1 percent in Cephalonia, 7.4 percent in Iraklio on Crete, and 31.1 percent in Myconos.

Total arrivals did not seem to take such a big hit thanks to a 21 percent rise in air arrivals recorded in Athens last month – attributed to the increase in scheduled flights.

SETE chief Andreas Andreadis told President Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Tuesday that a plan to “increase value-added tax by 120 percent [for the sector] would take Greek tourism out of competition and inflict irreparable damage.

“Hotels will be unable to absorb the increase and over 200,000 jobs will be lost from 2016,” he warned.

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