Figures announced last week by airport authorities on Rhodes paint a bright picture for the 2016 tourism season on the eponymous Dodecanese island, given that arrivals through the airport are up 3.2 percent in May, compared with the corresponding month in 2015.
The increase translates into another 7,000 visitors in the given month.
Charter flights to Rhodes in May 2016 brought 233,599 people to the island, up from 226,338 in May 2015, with the biggest increase coming from Russia, a number up by 75 percent.
First place in terms of tourist arrivals to Rhodes is held by German visitors, followed by UK tourists and Swedes.
Conversely, the island of Kos, Rhodes’ chief rival among the Dodecanese islands, shows a 21.6-percent fall from the same month in 2015, with projections for the island citing a negative season ahead.