Tourism Receipts in Greece Rise to Pre-Pandemic Levels

The Bank of Greece reported on Wednesday that receipts from tourism in 2022 surpassed initial forecasts by 2.6 billion euros, reaching 17.6 million.

Total travel revenues in 2022 did not exceed those of the last full year before the pandemic, 2019, because, as analysts point out, the markets of Russia and Ukraine were frozen due to the war, and China’s remained sluggish due to the pandemic.

However, tourism receipts made a 97% recovery compared to 2019 mainly thanks to the substantial increase in travelers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany last year in comparison to pre-pandemic levels.

Tourism receipts in Greece were boosted by EU travelers

From Germany, travel receipts in 2022 amounted to 3.255 billion euros, compared to €2.95 billion in 2019 – i.e.10 percent higher. There were also more Germans who visited the country, totaling 4.35 million last year compared to 4.02 million in 2019 – i.e. 8.1 percent more.

Receipts from France last year rose 16.4 percent to €1.268 billion, up from €1.08 billion in 2019. Similarly, visitors from France increased by 14 percent, to 1.75 million people, from 1.54 million in 2019.

However, the largest increase compared to pre-pandemic levels was recorded by travel receipts from Britain. In particular, they amounted to €3.123 billion, from €2.56 billion in 2019, while traveler numbers from Britain last year grew by 28.2 percent compared to 2019, to 4.485 million people, from 3.499 million.

Receipts from the US last year also increased, albeit marginally, by 0.6 percent compared to 2019, to €1.95 billion, from €1.18 billion, despite the fact that travel traffic from the US did not fully recover to pre-pandemic levels and stood at 1.08 million visitors, down from 1.17 million in 2019.

The data provided by the Bank of Greece revealed that the number of foreign visitors increased by 89.3 percent, and receipts by a total of 67.9 percent year-on-year.

Greece expects a new increase in tourism in 2023

Last week Greece’s Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias said that Greece will experience a 20 percent increase in tourism this year. He also predicted a lengthening of the season this summer.

The comments were made during a speech on the island of Rhodes, which the minister described as the “flagship of tourism.”

Greece is expecting a major boost in revenues from visitors to the country, especially from North America.

According to projections, more than one million American travelers and over €1 billion in revenue are expected to be generated by direct flights from the United States in the upcoming tourist season.