Explosion of Turkish tourists in Lesvos, Chios, and Samos

The islands of Lesvos, Chios, and Samos recorded an explosive increase in the number of arrivals from Turkey in 2024, as they reached 340,000.

It is noted that Turkey is now one of the most important markets for these islands, as it was facilitated by the implementation of the pilot program for issuing visas at the gate with the right to stay for holders up to seven days, which came into force on March 30, 2024. The program concerns the ports of Mytilene Lesvos, Petra Lesvos, Plomari Lesvos, Myrina Limnos, Chios, Vatheos Samos, Pythagoreio Samos, and Karlovassi Samos. The North Aegean Region has collected data that reflects the tourist image of the islands in 2024. There is also updated information on the overall picture of Turkish visitor arrivals in 2024.

In particular, in Samos, the number of Turkish visitor arrivals in 2024 amounted to 94,165. During the summer season, four daily routes were operated, three from Kusadasi and one from Sigacik to Vathi, two from Kusadasi to Pythagoreio, and an additional one four times a week. For October, the Kusadasi-Vathi connection continued with two ships daily and three to four ships at the weekend. The entry gate in Karlovasi began operating at the end of August and continued until mid-September with three approaches per week from Sigacik port.

Also in Lesvos, the number of arrivals of Turkish visitors in 2024 amounted to 120,141 travelers. During the summer season, six to eight approaches were made per day to Mytilene, from Ayvalik and Izmir until September, while from October the approaches from Ayvalik were up to three per day.

Regarding Chios, the number of Turkish visitors arriving in 2024 amounted to 125,679. The Chios-Cesme connection is carried out with four different companies, one Greek and three Turkish, which continue the routes during the winter, but with a lower frequency of two to four times a week, while during the summer months and mainly in July and August, they operate two to three routes per day.

It is worth noting that visitor arrivals via customs from Turkey, a very important market for the three largest islands of the North Aegean, had been abruptly interrupted since March 2020, when the entry gates were closed, due to the pandemic. From March 2022, routes were restarted to Chios and from April 2022 to Samos and Lesvos.

New markets with direct flights

In addition to the important market of Turkey, direct arrivals from traditional but also newer markets abroad are of interest, which compose a strong picture of traffic.

According to data from the North Aegean Region, Lesvos maintained the markets of the previous year, such as Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Poland, while 5 other markets were added, Israel, Austria, Romania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, with 2024 arrivals recording a significant increase of 44.08% compared to the total charter arrivals of 2023 and for the first time exceeding the level of 2014 arrivals, which were 76,689 arrivals.

Furthermore, in 2024, Lemnos maintained the markets of 2023, which were Great Britain, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic, and continued its upward trend with an increase of 33.29% up to September compared to the same period in 2023.

In Samos, the 15 markets, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Czech Republic, Belgium, Finland, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, and Serbia, of previous years were maintained, with the Netherlands being by far the first market in arrivals on the island, followed by Germany, Sweden, Poland and Denmark. The season began on April 18 in the Netherlands and ended on November 2 with the same market. Total arrivals in 2024 show an increase of 4.96% compared to the total annual charter arrivals in 2023.

Chios has not yet managed to restart with the European markets, after the refugee crisis and the coronavirus crisis. It started timidly last year with one flight every ten days from the Czech Republic, which it shares with Lemnos. Interest is being expressed from other European markets, such as the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom for direct flights, but tour operators are awaiting the completion of the runway extension, which will allow for uninterrupted service of aircraft. Of course, the fact that Chios also falls short in terms of the number of beds should not be overlooked.

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