Tourism: The season has officially started in Crete – A whole… city arrived in Heraklion in two days (vid)

The tourist season in Crete officially started on April 20th, as a whole city of 20,000 people arrived at the “Nikos Kazantzakis” airport of Heraklion on the weekend alone!

With the big hotels opening one after the other, this year’s season, as everything shows, started with the best omens for Crete, which is reflected every day at the airports of Heraklion and Chania, with the first estimates talking about 6 million visitors the whole season. Germans, English, French, Dutch, Belgians, Scandinavians and Poles are at the top of the bookings for holidays in Crete. However, arrivals are also expected from Russia, with flights via Turkey. As also from Ukraine and Romania. Great interest is also shown from Kosovo and the Arab Emirates.
The exceptionally good course of tourism is also proven by the figures that speak of 150,000 arrivals by the end of April on our island, Crete, thus giving the message for an even better tourist season which, barring the unexpected, may break any previous record!

The first mass arrivals are a fact, with around 13,000 passengers arriving in Heraklion yesterday Sunday alone

The first mass arrivals are a fact, with around 13,000 passengers arriving in Heraklion only yesterday Sunday. In particular, there were over 150 aircraft arrivals in Heraklion in the last 48 hours and over 300 departures and arrivals in total, with visitors flocking by the thousands and their journey going smoothly and pleasantly. It is characteristic that only yesterday, Sunday the 14th, there were arrivals from French airports, while there were also more than five flights from war-torn Israel. At the same time, there are thousands of arrivals mainly from Scandinavian countries and at the “Ioannis Daskalogiannis” airport of Chania.
The early summer in Crete, however, seems to increase the demand for the island even more, as within this week, according to the data, over 60,000 arrivals are expected in Heraklion alone!

“By the end of April, 150,000 people are expected to arrive on our island! Until now, specifically in the first 20 days of April, we had about 70,000 visitors. To these, if we add the 16,000 arrivals we had in March, everything shows that tourism in Crete is going very well so far!

The season actually started on April 20th. Hotels normally open one after the other everyday. By the beginning of May, everything will have opened its doors”, said the president of the Heraklion Prefecture Hotel Association Nikos Chalkiadakis, expressing his satisfaction with the current course of tourism in Crete, adding that “we have a normal flow. Flights, according to the data, reach 100 charters per day.

Estimates for the tourist season

According to the first estimates, a rapid increase in arrivals compared to last season is expected for this summer as a whole and if everything goes smoothly at the global level. This is what the estimates from the reservations so far show, while indicative of the increased interest of foreigners who choose our country and especially Crete for their holidays – many of them for the umpteenth time, having loved the island – is the presence of tourists who from very early on, due to the Catholic Easter, they started arriving in Crete from March.

Let us remind you that last month about 20,000 people from Germany, England, France, the Netherlands and Poland visited Crete, on the occasion of the Catholic Easter. In fact, many of them stayed an average of 7-8 days in a hotel or accommodation, thus having the opportunity to visit the monuments, museums, archaeological sites, gorges, our seas, the markets and the beauties from the other side on the edge of our island. This year an increase of up to 10% is expected in arrivals from Germany, France and England. At the same time, the increase in visitors from Poland and Israel will be more than 20%, while the bookings from Russia are also important.

In his optimistic estimates for the new tourist season, the president of the Panhellenic Federation of Hotel Managers, Giorgos Pelekanakis, states the following: “Bookings are at exceptional levels and are expected to exceed last year’s. First among the arrivals is Germany, which is moving at the same levels as last year. England is next, showing a significant increase compared to last year. France follows on Tuesday. Also, more and more Poles are traveling to Crete, as well as Scandinavians and Belgians. The Russians, however, who will come this year via Turkey to Greece and Crete will be greatly reduced compared to other years. Ukrainians are now expected to come via Moldova, while a new market that appears to be doing well is that of Romania.

Expression of interest for direct flights, however, has been expressed from Kosovo and from the Arab Emirates for a direct flight from Jordan and Egypt to Heraklion. The fact is that significant interest is registered by the agencies and we are optimistic that in 2027, when the new international airport in Kastelli is expected to be operational, these efforts will be achieved. Finally, my assessment is that, if we do not have unforeseen factors, the visitation will reach 6 million arrivals throughout the island in 2024″, with all those involved in tourism waiting for how and how these positive results.

Flood and Easter

An influx of people is of course also expected for the days of Easter, where the occupancy of the hotels is already expected to reach very high levels. One breath from the Greek Easter and there is already an increased demand for domestic flights as well, with many Greeks choosing Crete for their Easter holidays.