Road arrivals down, air visitors up
by Stathis Kousounis, ekathimerini.com, 11 July 2016

June consolidated the trends of the first half of the year in tourism arrivals, with numbers of air visitors increasing and land travelers diminishing, according to provisional figures from the Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises (SETE).

Data showed that international tourism arrivals by air at the country's key airports expanded 5 percent year-on-year in the January-June period, reaching 5.9 million, while road arrivals in Greece posted a drop of 8 percent to reach 4.2 million.

Therefore, expectations of an increase in tourist numbers on an annual basis have been pushed to the second half of the year, with last-minute bookings set to play a crucial role. Tourism revenues are also being watched carefully, given the increase in tax evasion, particularly in the area of property leases for tourism purposes that are not licensed by the state.

SETE chief Andreas Andreadis said the association is fully supportive of the tax authorities' work regarding the intensification of inspections and the combating of the phenomenon of unlicensed accommodation. This way SETE believes the state revenues will grow and the reduction of value-added tax will become possible in the legal market of tourism accommodation.