International visitor arrivals to Turkey by air exceeded pre-pandemic levels by more than 9%. 

International visitor arrivals to Turkey by air exceeded pre-pandemic levels by more than 9%. 
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Record-breaking summer for flights to Greece and Turkey

Air travel to the southeast corner of Europe exceeded pre-pandemic levels in the peak summer months of July and August, according to new data.

According to new data from the travel analytics firm ForwardKeys, the number of international visitors flying to Turkey and Greece exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 9 percent and 2 percent respectively.

Despite the energy crisis and rising inflation, this summer was a record-breaking season for flights to the southeast part of Europe. According to the report, air travel to Albania (a small country with less than 1 percent market share of European flight arrivals) was also up by 28 percent.

“European destinations could have attracted more visitors during the summer months if the aviation industry had been better able to cope with the surge in demand for travel during late spring and early summer. Had there been no disruption, ForwardKeys estimates that the recovery in intra-European flight bookings would have been five percentage-points higher,” the report stated.

The list of the best performing city destinations was headed by Istanbul (2 percent up), followed by Athens (7 percent down), Reykjavik and Porto (both 8 percent down) and Malaga (13 percent down).

ForwardKeys noted the major factors driving Turkey's strong performance included the weak Turkish lira and the country's openness to the Russian market, from where direct flights to most of Europe have been banned.

In general, travel experts share a positive outlook for 2022 but the continued war in Ukraine and the consequent impact on energy prices may make things more expensive in the future, cutting demand for leisure travel.

Falstaff Editorial Team
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