The number of people who traveled to Greece in 2018 totaled 30.12 million, the Bank of Greece announced on Thursday.
This staggering number reflects an increase of 10.8 percent compared to 2017, when 27.19 million people visited the country.
The revenues that were related to tourism and the visitors’ consumption reached the figure of €16.11 billion ($18.30 billion) in 2018, 10.1 per cent higher than the revenues of 2017.
the Bank of Greece’s report notes that the majority of tourists who visited the country were European Union nationals.
The vast majority of tourists, amounting to 21.4 million out of the 30.12 million who traveled to Greece, were European citizens from another EU member state. Another 8.73 million tourists came from countries outside of the EU.
The increase in the number of tourists over the past year came mainly from inside the EU, as the number of EU nationals visiting the country increased by 15.1 per cent over the previous year. The number of non-EU tourists over that same period increased by only 1.3 percent compared to 2017’s numbers.
The revenues generated by European Union tourists during 2018 rose by 11.9 percent, reaching a total of €11.034 billion ($12.518 billion). The revenues from non-EU tourists were €4.662 billion ($5.29 billion), showing an increase of 7.3 per cent.
The Bank of Greece report also notes that tourists who came to Greece from another Eurozone member state rose by 15.9 percent. The Eurozone is the common-currency area of the EU, encompassing the nineteen member states which use the euro.
The European country with the most citizens visiting Greece was Germany. A total of 4.381 million Germans visited Greece in 2018, representing an increase of 18.2 per cent. The UK was next, with nearly three million citizens traveling to Greece.
France was third in the number of tourists vacationing in the country, as 1.524 million of its citizens chose Greece for their holiday destination.
A significant change in tourism numbers was seen in the number of tourists to Greece from Russia and the US.
The amount of Russian tourists who typically visit Greece on their holidays decreased by a surprising 11.6 per cent from the previous year’s numbers. At the same time, the number of Americans visiting Greece reached 1.097 million, which represents an increase of 26.9 percent over the previous year’s figures.
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