Russian tourists place third on Crete

At the end of the 2012 summer season the Russians found themselves on the third place in terms of the number of arrivals to Heraklion Airport on Greek's island Crete. During the period from April to October the port of entry of the island's capital registered 312,379 arrivals from Russia; that is 30% more compared to the previous year. Crete is most popular from June to September, when it was welcoming an average of 65 thousand tourists a month.

The first place (even despite the 11-percent downturn) went to Germany with 365 thousand arrivals. Russia is just slightly behind the UK that showed an increase of 3% and reached 337.8 thousand arrivals.

Most countries showed negative growth dynamics, but there have been positive performances as well; Spain finished the season with +192% growth, followed by Ukraine (+77%) and Finland (+59%). However in absolute figures the number of arrivals from these countries is way less than from Russia.

Russia has all the chances to move up to the first place, leaving behind longstanding leaders – Germany and the UK, reports Greek.ru.