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“There’s nowhere like Halkidiki”, say the locals, but above all the people of Thessaloniki, for whom it has long been a traditional holiday destination not only in summer but throughout the year, especially for short weekend breaks.
However, the latest data suggest that many Europeans feel the same way. More than one million foreign tourists (the vast majority of them Europeans) are estimated to have visited the area over the whole of 2025, and this season so far is running at similar, perhaps even higher, numbers.
The images of the large wildfire in Siviri did little to dent visitor numbers, as there was no downturn at all in the days that followed, not even in the first ‘leg’ of Halkidiki, the part directly affected by the blaze.
Hotel owners say there have been no cancellations, and the only noticeable change this year is that most tourists are coming for fewer days than in the past, but with a willingness to spend proportionally more money during their stay.
In recent years there has also been a marked shift in the demographic mix of tourists visiting the area. Because of geopolitical conditions, and in particular the war in Ukraine and the European sanctions that among other things ban direct flights between Greek and Russian airports, the number of Russian visitors has fallen sharply. They used to combine their stay in the region with a trip to Mount Athos, but that market has now largely shifted towards neighbouring Turkey.
But the gap that opened up has already been filled, not only by neighbouring Balkan countries (chiefly Serbia, Bulgaria and North Macedonia), which have traditionally had the region in their holiday calendar, but also by a growing number of visitors from Western Europe. More and more British, German, French, Swiss and Italian tourists are being won over by Halkidiki’s crystal-clear waters and are choosing the area for their summer holidays – and they tend to come back.
Euronews visited Sani, one of Halkidiki’s most famous beaches, and spoke to bathers there, as you can see in the video.