Greece Welcomes One Million Tourists Per Week in August

In this regard, he also added that in July, tourist arrivals exceeded 900,000 per week, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

“This year, tourism proved to be Greece’s ‘heavy industry,’ which [is not only capable of supporting] the national economy but also [offers]…substantial support in very difficult conditions, like the ones that, unfortunately, have been set across Europe,” the Minister also added.

Greece is also leading the travel preferences of tourists coming from France and Israel this summer, and there has been a surprising increase in the number of arrivals from the United States and Austria.

“Greece will be the number one destination for travellers from France and Israel, very high in the list of travellers from the Balkans, and in the [top three for] travellers from Germany and from…Scandinavian countries,” Kikilias pointed out.

As for arrivals from the US, June data show a fifty per cent increase compared to 2019, while there was a 32 per cent increase in arrivals from Austria and a 24 per cent increase from Israel.

According to the Minister, this data is a great achievement due to the extension of the tourist season, which is expected to last until January 22 of this year.

In July, authorities in Greece predicted that they would welcome nearly one million tourists to the country’s airports in the first week of August. The same also explained that apart from Athens and Thessaloniki, among the most favourite destinations for visitors are also the islands of the southeast Aegean and the Cyclades, Crete and Corfu.

Commenting on the May data, Minister Kikilias emphasized that accommodation turnover has increased, having passed half a billion euros or €26 million more than in May 2019. He also indicated that, in addition to this, the turnover of businesses in the catering sector has also increased by €40 million compared to the same period of 2019.

A report provided by ForwardKeys previously revealed that six Greek tourist destinations were among the top ten places for travel bookings in Europe for the third quarter of 2022, from July to September.

In addition, high travel flows were expected to continue in September and beyond to some Greek islands.

Moreover, tourism accounts for twenty per cent of Greek GDP and employs countless Greeks across the spectrum of the hospitality sector. Furthermore, the data provided by the Bank of Greece, in April 2022, tourism revenues were above April 2019, thus marking an increase of almost one million euros.