The impressive course of Rhodian tourism has been officially confirmed by the international arrivals data for the year of 2013 published by Diagoras Airport.
From January to December the number of foreign tourism arrivals grew by +11.4% or +183kpax vs the same period in 2012 to reach 1.79 million visitors, exceeding all previous years records.
In total the Post-Soviet markets (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania & Kazakhstan) kept the strong momentum going on and in 2013 their arrivals reached to 322k with a significant increase of +69,7% or +132k pax vs last year!
The other major markets to post an increase in tourism flow were:
Germany +19k pax or +9,6%, Belgium +11k or 24,8%, Poland 7,5k or +15,3%, Israel +7,5k or +8,3% Switzerland 7k or +28%, Norway 6,5k or +8% and the Czech Rep. 5,5k or +10,7%.
On the other hand the markets with the major losses were Finland -13k pax or -20,7%, Cyprus -6,5k or -47,5%, UK -5k or -1,7% and France -5k or -6,4%.
The up-to-date increased early bookings strengthen the belief that 2014 will be the 5th year in the row with very strong international arrivals.