In 2019, before the Corona pandemic, tourism in Greece experienced a record year. It currently looks as if the numbers could be exceeded this year – despite fires and heat waves.
The record year for tourism in Greece was before the Corona pandemic: in 2019, the Greeks welcomed, entertained and accommodated around 33 million guests, who brought the country sales of more than 18 billion euros. Perhaps Greece will succeed in surpassing the numbers this year.
For the current year, the experts at the Greek National Bank (NBG) are forecasting an increase in guests of five percent compared to the record year 2019 and sales of up to 21 billion euros after around 18 billion euros at the time.
This is consistent with data from the European aviation safety authority Eurocontrol: according to this, arrivals and departures in the second week of August, for example, were nine percent higher than the same week in 2019.
Passenger numbers are also increasing
There are other indications as well. In their latest tourism analysis, the NBG economists report on an extraordinarily successful spring quarter, with arrivals exceeding those in the relevant period in 2019 by ten percent. In comparison, revenue even increased by 19 percent or 2.8 billion euros.
This dynamic start and the fact that Greece tends to be more popular than competitors such as Spain and Turkey are the prerequisites for a new visitor record, the experts noted.
This is also confirmed by current Fraport figures. The Frankfurt airport operator is responsible for 14 Greek regional airports – including Thessaloniki, Chania on Crete, Zakynthos, Skiathos and Santorini. According to Fraport, the number of passengers at the airports concerned from January to July 2023 totaled almost 18 million guests, which was 10.5 percent higher than in the first seven months of the record year 2019.
Greece’s tourism in transition
But at the same time there are problems. Climate change, the ever longer heat and drought waves and the resulting increase in forest and bush fires are a concern for the Greek tourism industry.
So far, Greek hospitality has been stronger than the risk of forest fires, but change is also imminent, write the tourism experts at the Greek National Bank. There will be a “reorganization of the tourist map”, the dependency on the main season will decrease, because some guests will avoid the hot months of July and August in the future and instead travel to the country sooner or later.
However, this has long been the concern of current and former tourism ministers, who have been campaigning for years to visit Greece if possible, especially outside of the main season. The hotels and guesthouses are then cheaper, popular places less crowded – and the people who work in the tourism sector can work more.