More than three million international guests flew into Greece in August in yet another sign that tourism was on the rebound.

Figures released by Greece’s civil aviation authority on Friday showed that arrivals in August almost doubled to 3,042,098, from 1,666,222 a year earlier when the world was gripped by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Traffic at Greek airports saw a 53.7% rise for the first eight months of 2021, although they were still down 53.8% when compared to the same period in 2019. In that record year for Greece, more than 33 million tourists visited the country and brought in revenues of 18 billion euros, or $21 billion USD.

According to Eurocontrol, an international organization promoting safe air traffic management, Greece is performing above the European average this year when it comes to all flights (domestic and international).

Across Europe, flights were back to 71% of 2019 levels. In Greece it was 81%, in the UK it was only 51%, while Turkey 78%, Italy 76% and France 71% also shows signs of recovery.

Featured image: Manfred Werner (Tsui) via Wikimedia Commons