Works at Thessaloniki airport to massively hurt tourism

Tourism professionals call for action by Greek government to avert catastrophe in sector

The works scheduled to take place at the Thessaloniki International Airport runway are expected to have a negative impact on tourist arrivals during the peak of the 2017 season, according to newspaper “Macedonia”. The report cites estimates by tourist agencies and hotel owners in the city who note the planned works result in a huge blow to the industry, with some projecting a drop between 40 and 50% during the height of the tourist season. The tourism-related businesses have called on the Greek authorities to intervene in order to avoid the disaster in the tourism sector in northern Greece. They are asking for the works at the terminal to be pushed back to November 2017. Many international commercial air carriers have already canceled or reduced their flights to Thessaloniki, as Italian Neosair is also considering scrapping its flights to Thessaloniki, after British Airways, Ryanair and Jet2 cut the number of their flights. are considering. The Italian air company, which is controlled by the Italian Tourism Organisation, saw a request for flights to Thessaloniki in July 2017 turned down.