Scandinavian Tourists prefer Chania to Rhodes

The increasing movement of Scandinavian tourists towards the regionnof Chania in Crete Island combined to the reduction of the number ofnincoming Scandinavian tourists to Rhodes Island has been concerning thenlocal authorities in Rhodes. The Scandinavian tourist arrivals duringnthe year of 2005, based on the official data of the Civil AviationnService, concerning the five biggest regional airports of Greecen(Rhodes, Kos, Chanias, Heraklion and Corfu airports) has indicated thatnan important part of Scandinavian tourists that up to recentlynpreferred visiting Rhodes Island, has changed their preferences for thenyear of 2005 and visited Chania.

According to officialnstatistical data, to the airport of Rhodes, 179.246 Scandinavianntourists arrived, to Kos 27.941, to Chania 323.514, to Heraklion 82.078nand to Corfu 27.085, if the same data would be displayed using percent,nthen to Rhodes arrived the 24,74% of the Scandinavian arrivals, to Kosnthe 4,60%, to Chania the 58,04%, to Heraklion the 4,11% and to Corfunthe 3,18%.

It is worth mentioning the Scandinavian touristsnScandinavia are a very attractive piece of the pie of tourism arrivalsnmarket for the region of Rhodes because of their tourismncharacteristics such as the big holiday duration, their high expensesnfor tourist purposes and the fact that many are loyal customers of thenRhodian tourism product.

To these conclusions led the researchnthat the Chamber of Dodekanese preformed in 2004. The research had thensupport of the Scientific Team of Tourism (EPOT) to which the ManagingnDirector of Euroxenia tourism consulting and hotel management MrnToanoglou Michalis is an active member.