Greece has always been a very popular place for tourism and migration. Greece's tourism revenue generated by travellers from the UK, France and Germany last year increased significantly compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said the surge in tourism revenue from tourists from the aforementioned countries indicated strong demand for the Hellenic Republic. Kikilias cited data from the Bank of Greece (BoG) from January to December last year, according to which tourism revenue from tourists from the United Kingdom increased by 21.8%, tourists from France by 16.4% and German tourists by 10%.
The Minister of Tourism stressed that the ministry's efforts to extend the tourist season beyond the summer, as well as new agreements with airlines for additional routes, are already beginning to pay off. Everything is going in a good direction!
Data provided by the Central Bank indicate that last year tourism-related revenues were 2.6 billion euros higher than initially forecast, reaching about 17.6 million.
The Greek minister referred to the agreement with airlines for 63 weekly non-stop flights from the United States to Athens, which he stressed boosted the number and income of American travelers in January. In order to meet the growing number of foreign tourists, Greece has embarked on the construction of new infrastructure projects.
"Eight out of ten investments are related to tourism and focus on the sustainability of tourism products and destinations," he added. Data provided by the Tourism Board show that the number of foreign tourists increased by 89.3% year-on-year and the total revenue increased by 67.9% year-on-year, thus marking an increase of 88.8% and 97.0% from pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, transportation net revenue surged 5.6 percent. Minister Kikilias said that the Hellenic Republic experienced the highest recovery in air passenger traffic last year, and this year, they are also expected to welcome a large number of international tourists.
Meanwhile, the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) noted earlier this month that citizens of Belgium and Germany have significantly increased their interest in visiting Greece this year.
