Mykonos saw a 3.1% decline in January-May this year on an annual basis.
The first indications that the growth of Greek tourism, at least in terms of arrivals, is slowing down – especially at certain popular destinations – are provided by data from passenger traffic at the 14 regional airports and in coastal shipping, on top of information from the hotel market and travel agencies.
Although the vast majority of arrivals and tourism receipts are recorded in the third quarter – i.e. in July-September – data for the first half of the year point to a slowdown in the growth rate of visitors against the same period last year.
This slowdown comes, of course, after the record levels to which tourism climbed in 2024, but at different speeds, as Athens and Thessaloniki seem to be continuing to move more strongly upward compared to the islands. In addition, there are cases such as Santorini, where a deep drop has been recorded.
“Obviously, no safe conclusions can be drawn for the whole year before we see traffic in the third quarter,” explain tourism industry sources, who agree, however, that “if the year continues according to the same pattern, it will be a stabilizing season and not a growth season.”
The only thing certain, for now, is that passenger traffic in Santorini is not simply slowing down, but is dropping. From January to May, the number of arrivals decreased by 24.4% annually, with both domestic and international passenger traffic sliding.
In June, this decrease was limited to 17.2%. This significant correction is attributed to the intense seismic activity at the beginning of the year and the large flows of visitors that the island has recently received from cruise ship passengers and day trippers, mainly from Crete.
Critical reviews about the relationship between the quality of the experience – due to the huge numbers of visitors – and prices are also believed to have played a negative role with Santorini.
Mykonos had also experienced that in previous years, seeing travel traffic decrease before stabilizing this year. January-May data show a 3.1% decrease in passenger traffic to Mykonos, followed by a 3.8 drop in June. Skiathos also saw a decrease of 9.1% in the first five months of the year.