For the period January – July 2022, there is an increase in the total volume of online searches for accommodation in Athens by 74% compared to 2019 and an increase of 234% compared to 2021.
The strong interest of online travel demand trends continued in July 2022 for 7 first-tier Greek destinations (Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, Naxos, Rhodes, Elounda) as shown by online travel tourism demand data, with several destinations achieving record
monthly performance in in relation to online searches.
Considering that the internet is one of the most important tools used by travelers in researching and preparing for their trip, including online research / search for accommodation, it is of particular importance to monitor how the trends of online travel demand for accommodation in 7 selected Greek destinations.
Highlights of online travel demand trends for Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, Naxos, Rhodes and Elounda [Updated July 2022]:
Athens
July 2022 saw an all-time sky high record for online demand for accommodation in Athens, slightly surpassing the previous all-time high volume searches in May and June 2022. For the period January – July 2022, there is an increase in the total volume of online searches for accommodation in Athens by 74% compared to 2019 and an increase of 234% compared to 2021. The top countries in terms of searches for accommodation in Athens for the year 2022 are the USA, the UK, followed by France, Germany and Italy with a significant difference in volume. Compared to 2019, the top 3 countries with the largest increase in total search volume are the USA (106% increase), the UK ( 76% increase) and Germany (74% increase). The TOP 5 USA states searches and interest in accommodation in Athens are the following: California (14%), New York (13%), Texas (7%), Florida (7%) and Illinois (5%) which make up the total 46% of the total demand from all USA states.
Thessaloniki
July 2022 also saw an all-time sky-high online demand for accommodation in Thessaloniki, slightly surpassing the previous of May. The top countries of origin for online searches in July for accommodation in Thessaloniki were Germany, Romania, Israel and the United Kingdom. Thessaloniki for the period January – July 2022 shows an increase in the total volume of online searches for accommodation by 52% compared to 2019 and an increase by 187% compared to 2021. Overall, for the first 7 months of 2022, the top countries of those which users searched online were Germany, Cyprus and the United Kingdom, with Romania following a little behind in fourth place.
Santorini
The high interest in online demand for accommodation in Santorini continued in July 2022, slightly lower than those searches carried out in May and June of 2022, which were also the historical search volumes of online demand for the island. For the period January – July 2022 we have a significant increase in the total volume of online searches for accommodation in Santorini by 44% compared to 2019 and an increase of 89% compared to 2021. The United Kingdom and the United States continue to top the country’s rankings for Santorini accommodation searches for 2022, followed by France and Italy. It is worth pointing out that France is experiencing a significant percentage increase in online searches compared to 2019 (91% increase).
Mykonos
July 2022 saw an ultimate online demand for accommodation in Mykonos, slightly surpassing searches in June 2022 which was the previous record. The island of Mykonos shows an increased volume of searches in relation to accommodation from most of the countries monitored.
The top countries in terms of searches for accommodation in Mykonos for 2022 are the UK, USA and Italy, with France and Germany rounding at the top five. Compared to 2019, the first seven months of 2022 saw a 47% increase in total online search volume, and a 78%
increase over 2021. The top 3 countries with the largest percentage increase in total search volume for the first seven months of 2022, compared to the corresponding period of 2019, are France (85% increase), the USA (77% increase) and Germany (54% increase). In
contrast, slightly less online demand for accommodation in Santorini was seen from Israel and Australia.
Naxos
The strong interest in online searches for accommodation in Naxos continues in July, while particularly this month marked the second best performance at a four-year level (after June 2022). For the first seven months of 2022, there is an increase in the total volume of online searches for accommodation in Naxos by 57% compared to 2019 and a 77% increase compared to 2021. The leading countries in terms of searches for accommodation in Naxos in the period January – July 2022 are Germany, the USA and the United Kingdom, with Italy following fourth. The countries with the largest percentage increase in search volume compared to 2019 are the USA (85% increase), Germany (60% increase) and France (53% increase).
Rhodes
July 2022 saw great online demand for accommodation in Rhodes as well, slightly surpassing searches of those in June which was the previous record for Rhodes. The top countries of origin for online searches in July for accommodation in Rhodes were the UK, Germany and France. On a year-on-year basis, in the first seven months of 2022 we have seen a 73% increase in total online search volume for accommodation in Rhodes compared to 2019 and a 131% increase compared to 2021. The top countries with a significant difference based on searches are the United Kingdom Kingdom and Germany, followed by France and the Netherlands. It is worth highlighting the significant increase in searches from the Scandinavian countries for accommodation in Rhodes.
Elounda
For the period January – July 2022 we have a significant increase in the total volume of online searches for accommodation in Elounda by 65% compared to 2019 and an increase of 79% compared to 2021. The top 2 countries in terms of online searches for accommodation in Elounda are the UK and Germany, followed closely by France and the US. It is worth pointing out that we saw Germany (109% increase), Austria (85% increase) and Switzerland (75%) show the largest percentage increase in online searches compared to 2019.
The survey is part of the Tourix Analytics venture of the Tourix company, which specializes in Digital Tourism Marketing, with the aim of utilizing specialized data and tools and its human resources to draw useful conclusions in relation to the trends of travel demand for Greek destinations. The research is based on the volume of searches collected using 16,000 search terms that are directly related to accommodation in the respective destination.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.