Good start to August for Corfu tourism
tourism
07 Aug 2021
/ 12:01
CORFU. For the first time this season UK tops the list of international flight arrivals.
The month of August has started well for Corfu tourism and for the first time this season UK has moved to the top of the list, ahead of Germany, for flight arrivals at Corfu Airport.
According to Corfu Civil Aviation Employees' Union President Dimitris Roussos, in the first six days of August international flight arrivals were as follows - 93 from UK, 66 from Germany, 45 from Italy and 37 from France. This is especially encouraging as Greece is still on the British government's amber list.
"There is an increase of about 10% in the number of flights from the UK compared to last week," said Mr. Roussos. "However, the number of passengers on each flight is lower than that on flights from other countries and lower than the usual for UK flights."
He said that on Thursday 5th there was a total of 72 international flight arrivals - the kind of figure we normally see at weekends.
"It seems that August will go well and we will have more international flight arrivals than in July," said Mr. Roussos.
50-60% occupancy on cruise ships
The occupancy of cruise ships visiting Corfu Port has also increased. Although cruises began tentatively with around 20% occupancy, it has now reached 50-60% Corfu Port Authority Managing Director Spyros Zervopoulos told ERA Corfu. It should be noted that cruise ship capacities range from 2,500 to 4,000.
"The aim this year was for cruise ships to start coming to Corfu again, at whatever cost," said Mr. Zervopoulos. "It is, of course, not at the same level as 2019 but the important thing was for it to begin again and we are satisfied with the situation in this difficult year." He added that, according to the schedules, August, September and October will be very good months but only a few cruise visits are scheduled for November and December.
Mr. Zervopoulos said that from 3 September Corfu is expected to operate a second home port, mainly for British visitors. "Home ports offer much more to the local community as the cruise begins and ends there and passengers come mainly by air and most of them spend 3-5 days at the home port either at the beginning or the end. It is additional tourism." He clarified that the 'bubble' protocol only applies to ships sailing under the Italian flag and passengers from other cruise ships are free to do as they wish.
Hotels full
Hotels are full at the moment and the desired levels of occupancy have been achieved. "In 10 days from now, however, we will have the occupancy levels we had at the beginning of July," said the Corfu Hoteliers' Association Vice-President Spyros Rokkas. "The number of visitors from the UK is no more than 15-20%."
According to the Federation of Tourist Accommodation Owners President Pericles Katsaros, that which is a matter of concern is that there will be low occupancy levels in September. Occupany of rented accommodation in August, however, is satisfactory.
According to Corfu Civil Aviation Employees' Union President Dimitris Roussos, in the first six days of August international flight arrivals were as follows - 93 from UK, 66 from Germany, 45 from Italy and 37 from France. This is especially encouraging as Greece is still on the British government's amber list.
"There is an increase of about 10% in the number of flights from the UK compared to last week," said Mr. Roussos. "However, the number of passengers on each flight is lower than that on flights from other countries and lower than the usual for UK flights."
He said that on Thursday 5th there was a total of 72 international flight arrivals - the kind of figure we normally see at weekends.
"It seems that August will go well and we will have more international flight arrivals than in July," said Mr. Roussos.
50-60% occupancy on cruise ships
The occupancy of cruise ships visiting Corfu Port has also increased. Although cruises began tentatively with around 20% occupancy, it has now reached 50-60% Corfu Port Authority Managing Director Spyros Zervopoulos told ERA Corfu. It should be noted that cruise ship capacities range from 2,500 to 4,000.
"The aim this year was for cruise ships to start coming to Corfu again, at whatever cost," said Mr. Zervopoulos. "It is, of course, not at the same level as 2019 but the important thing was for it to begin again and we are satisfied with the situation in this difficult year." He added that, according to the schedules, August, September and October will be very good months but only a few cruise visits are scheduled for November and December.
Mr. Zervopoulos said that from 3 September Corfu is expected to operate a second home port, mainly for British visitors. "Home ports offer much more to the local community as the cruise begins and ends there and passengers come mainly by air and most of them spend 3-5 days at the home port either at the beginning or the end. It is additional tourism." He clarified that the 'bubble' protocol only applies to ships sailing under the Italian flag and passengers from other cruise ships are free to do as they wish.
Hotels full
Hotels are full at the moment and the desired levels of occupancy have been achieved. "In 10 days from now, however, we will have the occupancy levels we had at the beginning of July," said the Corfu Hoteliers' Association Vice-President Spyros Rokkas. "The number of visitors from the UK is no more than 15-20%."
According to the Federation of Tourist Accommodation Owners President Pericles Katsaros, that which is a matter of concern is that there will be low occupancy levels in September. Occupany of rented accommodation in August, however, is satisfactory.
