It stood out impressively this year, putting into practice what is called the “extension of the tourist season”, connecting the destination with 16 foreign countries
We could say that the island of Skiathos was a surprise this year, although the successful season and the extremely good data so far are the continuation of a steady upward trend that it has shown in recent years. The green island of the Sporades, with its popular beaches and picturesque countryside, however, stood out impressively this year, putting into practice what is called “extension of the tourist season”connecting the destination with 16 foreign countries.
For the first time in the annals of Skiathos, as the mayor of the island says speaking to the Athenian and Macedonian News Agency Thodoris Tzoumas, Skiathos had the longest tourist season: “This year we had the longest season, with the first international flight departing from Milan on April 1st and the last on November 2nd to Manchester. Usually, the season started in the first days of May and the last flight was somewhere in early October,” the mayor points out.
“What happened this year has no precedent and as everything shows, the year will close with an increase and especially in terms of international arrivals, the increase will be at least 10% compared to 2023”, he adds.
Although the general picture in tourism could not remain unaffected by the energy crisis and the growth slowdown in Europe, according to Mr. Juma – while the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East were also aggravating which had a negative impact and caused difficulty in making reservations in the high season, a decrease in the average overnight stay and a decrease in the per capita expenditure in some destinations, as well as a decrease in arrivals at some airports – however, at the airport “Alexandros Papadiamantis” the sign was positive: The Municipality of Skiathos through actions and partnerships supported the organizations that were already operating in Skiathos, essentially pushing them to develop their programs, and in addition, made sure to promote the destination to new markets and widen with new partnerships the dispersion of arrivals from different countries and airports. The International Arrivals of “Alexandros Papadiamantis” airport are expected to be about 10% more than in 2023, which are carried out from 16 different regions and 35 airports.
“From 2020 until today, we are giving 400,000 euros a year for tourism promotion actions, with tourist organizations, mainly foreign, with airlines, advertisements in the subway of London, Paris, Berlin, while in almost every country we have at least one contract with an airline company. We have connected the island with direct flights to 16 foreign countries, while this year the English and Italians showed an even greater increase in traffic. We participate in exhibitions with meaningful actions, such as the last one in Rimini, Italy, while of course we will also be present at the largest tourism exhibition in London, WTM, where we are considering highlighting the issue of accessibility, to which we attach great importance.” notes Mr. Tzoumas.
All this “blooming” of Skiathos has also increased the interest of investors, as a result of which new accommodation and hotels are being built on the island, but the important thing, as the mayor says, is that there are a lot of renovations with a lot of work and care, which gives rise to great optimism.
In addition to all of this, there are the existing ferry connections, of which, according to the mayor, the one with Thessaloniki was very helpful.
Source :Skai
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