SUMMER 2022 RECORD BREAKING FOR FLIGHTS TO GREECE
ForwardKeys’ data shows that air travel to the southeast corner of Europe substantially exceeded pre-pandemic (2019) levels in the peak summer months of July and August. The two largest destinations, Turkey and Greece, both exceeded pre-pandemic levels of international visitor arrivals by 9 percent and 2 percent respectively.
Factors that impacted travel trends
According to ForwardKeys, major factors driving the strong performance of Turkey include an ongoing decline in the value of the Turkish lira and its openness to the Russian market, from where direct flights to most of Europe have been banned. In the summer of 2019 Russians accounted for 4 percent of all arrivals to Europe, whereas in 2022, this dropped dramatically.
“We are still cautious about the outlook because the continued war in Ukraine and the consequent impact on energy prices will negatively affect European economies, which will likely dent consumer confidence and corporate demand. That said, there is currently a concentration of flight bookings during the autumn half-term peaks and Christmas, which could lead to further flight disruption if the recent recruitment difficulties experienced by the aviation industry persist,” Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys, said.
