The South Aegean and Ionian Islands of Greece recorded the highest tourism saturation of any region in the European Union in 2024, with visitors spending more nights per resident there than anywhere else in the bloc, according to a regional analysis of tourism data compiled by Eurostat.
In the South Aegean, which includes the islands of Rhodes, Kos, and Santorini, tourists logged 127.2 nights for every resident last year. The region recorded more than 41.5 million overnight stays against a population of roughly 326,000, the widest gap between visitors and residents found anywhere in the EU.
The Ionian Islands, home to Corfu and Zakynthos, ranked second with 102.6 nights per resident. The region logged more than 20.5 million overnight stays for a population of about 200,000. No other region in the analysis came close to matching either figure.
How Greece’s South Aegean and Ionian Islands tourism compares to the rest of the EU
The next closest region was the Italian province of Bolzano at 68.9 nights per resident, followed by Croatia’s Adriatic coast at 67.5 and Spain’s Balearic Islands at 60. Crete, Greece’s largest island, ranked sixth overall with 55.6 nights per resident.
That gap shows how unevenly tourism is spread across the Aegean and Ionian Islands compared with the rest of the European Union, where most regions recorded fewer than 15 nights per resident.
At the opposite end of the scale, Mayotte, a French island territory in the Indian Ocean, posted the lowest ratio in the EU at 0.5 nights per resident. The Mazowieckie region surrounding Warsaw followed closely at 0.7.
The analysis, based on Eurostat’s nights-spent and population datasets for 2024, covered 290 regions across the EU and neighboring countries, with 244 of those classified as EU members. Regions outside the bloc, including several in Turkey, Norway, and Switzerland, were tracked separately and excluded from the EU comparison.
North Aegean extends Greece’s grip on EU tourism rankings
A third region of Greece ranked in the top 30. The North Aegean, which includes Lesbos, Chios, and Samos, ranked 24th in the EU with 14.9 nights per resident, well below its southern counterpart but still ahead of most mainland regions in Europe.
In conjunction, the three Greek regions point to a tourism pattern concentrated heavily around the country’s island geography rather than its urban centers.
The figures indicate that a small number of island regions continue to draw a disproportionate share of Europe’s tourism activity even as demand across the continent continues to expand.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
