Santorini has always been one of the top Greek summer destinations, attracting hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. Now, according to the island’s Mayor Anastasios-Nikolaos Zorzos and the local hotelier association president Manolis Karamolegos the island is expecting another successful tourism year, especially after the tourism season was extended. In 2014, Santorini recorded the highest tourist arrival growth rates among all other Greek summer destinations with a total of 310,433 air arrivals, which increased by 27%. In fact the growth rate that was recorded in Santorini was higher than the 15.4% that was recorded in Greece over the previous year. Moreover, Zorzos noted that this year flight booking both from abroad and within Greece have increased — a fact that points to another promising season for the Cycladic island of Santorini. As a way to repair the damage caused to the island by last year’s blackout in August, the Greek Public Power Corporation has agreed to fund several advertizing spots in order to help boost the island’s popularity among tourists. Furthermore, Karamolegos believes that the tourism season extension is very important in order to help Santorini maintain its growth rates. This year charter flights from Germany will begin in late March. The German airlines flying to the island (Air Berlin and Niki) have already started making a list of hotels that will be open early in the year, based on data provided by the Greek National Tourism Organization. Meanwhile, Karamolegos also noted that the island has even been busy during the last months, from November 2014 until now, thanks to 30,000 tourists who arrived mostly from Korea and China.
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