Greek Tourism 2023: €20.6b Revenue, Over 30m Tourists – Final Data
Travel receipts in Greece in 2023 increased by 16.5 percent year-on-year to some 20.6 billion euros compared to the previous year, the Bank of Greece reported recently from its Border Survey statistics.
More specifically, according to final data for 2023 released by Greece’s central bank, the development was driven by an 11.6 percent increase in receipts from residents of the EU27, which stood at 11.169 billion euros or 54.2 percent of total travel receipts, and by an 18.3 percent rise in receipts from residents of other countries to some 8.6 billion euros – Table 2 and Chart 2.
30.08 million tourists in 2023
The increased revenue reflects a 20.8 percent increase in inbound traveller flows as the number of tourists visiting Greece in 2023 reached 30.08 million compared to over 29.87 million in 2022.
According to the data, traveller flows through Greek airports grew by 12.7 percent, while traveller flows through road border-crossing points increased by 34.9 percent.
Travellers from within the EU27 accounted for 54.4 percent of the total number of travellers, while travellers from other countries accounted for 36.3 percent (the remaining 9.3 percent corresponds to data on cruise passenger flows other than those collected through the border survey).
In 2023, travellers from within the EU27 increased by 15.6 percent compared with 2022.
This development is attributed to increases in the number of travellers from euro area countries by 11.3 percent to 12.9 million and in the number of travellers from non-euro area EU27 countries by 24.7 percent to 6.7 million.
More specifically, travellers from Germany increased by 9.5 percent to 4.7 million and travellers from Italy increased by 30.4 percent to 1.842 million. Travellers from France also increased, by 4.2 percent to 1.8 million.
Lastly, the number of travellers from other countries grew by 20.8 percent to 13 million.
Specifically, the number of travellers from the United Kingdom rose by 2.4 percent to 4.5 million. Travellers from the United States increased by 29.2 percent to 1.4 million, whereas travellers from Russia declined by 1.0 percent to 35.7 thousand – Table 4 and Chart 4.
Overnight stays
In 2023, non-residents’ overnight stays in Greece totalled 236,271.2 thousand, up by 7.3 percent from 220,213.1 thousand in 2022. This was driven by a 1.5 percent increase in nights spent by residents of the EU27, as well as by a 10.8 percent rise in nights spent by residents of other countries. The rise in overnight stays by residents of the EU27 reflects a 2.6 percent increase in nights spent by euro area residents, as nights spent by residents of non-euro area EU27 countries fell by 2.1 percent.
The number of overnight stays did not change significantly from 2022 for German residents, while it increased by 33.3 percent for Italian residents and declined by 1.5 percent for French residents. Turning to other countries, the number of overnight stays by UK residents dropped by 5.2 percent, while the number of overnight stays by US residents rose by 23.1 percent. Finally, overnight stays by Russian residents increased by 8.5 percent – Table 5 and Chart 5.
Cruises
Total receipts from cruise passengers in 2023 rose by 84.1 percent year-on-year to 908.4 million euros. Of this amount, 61.0 million euros were already captured in the Border Survey data, as they represent receipts from last port travellers, eventually leaving the country, while the remaining 847.4 million euros concern additional receipts data recorded by the Cruise Survey – Tables 6 and 7.
Chart 6 shows a breakdown of cruise receipts by port. The port of Piraeus ranks first with a share of 47.8 percent in total receipts, followed by the port of Corfu with 13.3 percent and the port of Santorini with 8.5 percent respectively.
The year under review saw 5,152 cruise ship arrivals (2022: 4,598). Total overnight stays ashore rose by 121.5 percent year-on-year to 9,421.9 thousand in 2023, with a positive impact on cruise receipts. The total number of cruise passengers also rose year-on-year, by 61.1 percent to an estimated 3,484.1 thousand – Table 7.
Chart 7 shows a breakdown of cruise ship arrivals by port. The port of Santorini ranks first with a share of 15.5% in total cruise ship arrivals, followed by the port of Piraeus with 14.8 percent and the port of Mykonos with 14.5 percent respectively.
In 2023, the total number of cruise passenger visits rose by 55.0 percent to 6,964.2 thousand, from 4,493.6 thousand in 2022 – Table 8. According to the Cruise Survey, 83.6 percent of all cruise passengers were transit visitors, with an average of 2.0 stopovers at Greek ports of call. The seven most important cruise ship ports account for 90.8 percent of total cruise receipts and 82.7 percent of total cruise passenger visits – Chart 8.
Balance of travel services by region
As suggested by the Border Survey, travel receipts in 2023 (excluding revenue from cruises) amounted to 19,746.3 million euros. Five regions accounted for the bulk (90.5 percent) of total receipts – Table 9 – namely: the Southern Aegean (5,340.8 million euros), Crete (5,196.3 million euros), Attica (3,786.9 million euros), the Ionian Islands (2,038.8 million euros) and Central Macedonia (1,514.8 million euros). The remaining regions (the Peloponnese, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Epirus, Thessaly, Western Greece, Central Greece, the Northern Aegean and Western Macedonia) together accounted for 1,868.6 million euros.
Visits to Greece (all 13 regions combined) in 2023 totalled 36,135.6 thousand. It should be noted that the number of visits exceeds the number of inbound travellers estimated by the Border Survey (32,735.2 thousand), as travellers may visit more than one region in the course of one trip.
Attica region: most visited in 2023
Southern Aegean region: largest share of total receipts, overnight stays
The five most visited regions, accounting for 83.9 percent of total visits, were: Attica (7,888.7 thousand visits), the Southern Aegean (6,960.7 thousand), Central Macedonia (6,565.9 thousand), Crete (5,521.7 thousand) and the Ionian Islands (3,377.9 thousand). The remaining regions (Epirus, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Western Greece, Central Greece, the Northern Aegean and Western Macedonia) together accounted for 5,820.6 thousand visits.
The number of overnight stays in Greece in the period under review totalled 227,937.7 thousand. According to the breakdown into the 13 regions, five regions accounted for 87.7 percent of total overnight stays, namely: the Southern Aegean (50,643.4 thousand nights), Crete (45,837.2 thousand), Attica (44,347.7 thousand), the Central Macedonia (32,272.1 thousand) and the Ionian Islands (26,914.9 thousand). The remaining regions (Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the Peloponnese, Epirus, Thessaly, Western Greece, Central Greece, the Northern Aegean and Western Macedonia) together accounted for 27,922.5 thousand overnight stays.
And you still rip off tourists with your 100% rise in room tax.
Yet the government allows businesses to pay €4 an hour for long hours with some businesses working people 7 days a week or employing people under the radar the black economy. Until everyone has a fair bite of the cherry and the government steps in and enforcing employment law and chronic wages standards of living will continue to fall in on Crete and it’s dia.