The first half of the year ended in Rhodes with an increase of +9,4% compared to last year namely 588k against 537k in 2012.

There was a amazing increase in tourist arrivals from the Russian Market (+41k or +72,7%) which turned the tables upside-down, and it seems certain that in 2013 it will displace the German market from the 2nd place.
It is worth mentioning that for the full season of 2007 the Russian market ranked just 17th with only 19k visitors.
Other markets that increased was the Ukraine (+8k or 202,7%), Belgium (+4,4 or +30%), Germany (+3,8k or 5,8%) and Norway (+3,6k or 13%).
On the other hand there was a significant decrease in the markets from Finland (-17,4k or -27,3%), Cyprus (-4,7k or 96,6%) and the UK (-4,2k or 3,9%)

1st Half of 2013 vs 1st Half of 2011
But since 2012 was not a ‘normal’ season - due to the political uncertainty -, we made a comparison against 2011 which was the best season ever in terms of arrivals.
The arrivals for Jan-June 2013 were just -0,5% less than 2011 and with the current political turmoil in the neighbouring eastern Mediterranean region it seems certain that 2013 will prove to be the best season to date.
The above comparison also confirms the huge dynamic of the Russian market (+121,2%), but more importantly the negative trend of some traditional markets like Germany (-19,7%) , France (-14,6%) , Italy (-48,8%), Israel ( -31%), Finland (-34%) and Poland (-30,3%).