On Sunday at noon, the pedestrian street of Dionysiou Areopagitou was reminiscent of the middle of June. It was not only the almost summer weather but the incredible global flood, which was not so much due to the Athenians as to the… landing of foreign visitors, earlier than any other year.
On the weekend, there was no tourist “square” in the center of Athens that was not flooded with people. You could tell by the language panspermia, the excessively summery costumes and, above all, by the completely premature queues at the entrances to the archaeological sites, especially for the Acropolis. What if most people kept their e-ticket in hand (ie, on their mobile phone). The situation was very difficult even at the “alternative”, second entrance leading to the slopes and the Parthenon, east of the ancient theater of Dionysus. The sight was impressive considering we are still in April; you could hardly avoid thinking: what will happen in June and July?
Many institutional factors of the Athenian tourism they have the answer, but they’re reluctant to share it publicly so as not to… screw up what they see right in front of them: that, barring some shocking contingency (see geopolitical upheaval, natural disasters, etc.), we’re probably in for the best tourist season in the country’s history and especially in the history of the capital. Those who have access to the “hard” data of our travel industry (ie bookings for the next two months, scheduled flights, airline seats, etc.) admit that the picture is rather unprecedented. The demand for Athens appears to be greater than ever.
In fact, we no longer speak of a “season” as the flow of visitors continued unabated through the winter. Not even the erosion of the Israeli market, valuable for Athenian tourism, due to events in the Middle East was capable of arresting the trend. Athens seems to have firmly established itself as a year-round destination in its own right. “We thought it would be much better to see the city outside the peak season, but it seems that the only thing we’ve been spared is the summer heat, because otherwise there’s not much difference from what we see in Rome,” Paolo tells us and Chiara from Italy.
And because the good day from the morning can be seen, the first quarter of the year closed with increased passenger traffic at “Eleftherios Venizelos” by 16.5% compared to last year’s quarter and reached 5.215 million. During the same period, the flights ” flew” to 46,334 recording an increase of 12.8%. In March alone there was a 20.1% increase in arrivals at the country’s largest airport compared to the same month last year, although this year’s calendar-early Easter in the same month (29/3) should be taken into account. Summer arrived early in Athens; in all respects.
