Greece expects record tourism revenues of about 22 billion euros ($23.24 billion) in 2024, Greek Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni said in speaking to public broadcaster ERT on Tuesday.
“This year we expect [revenues] of about 22 billion,” said Kefalogianni, which means there will be an increase of around 10 percent from 2023.
This is not the first time this year Kefalogianni forecasts positive conditions for Greek tourism. In September, during a press conference, she also said the government expected 2024 to break the previous tourism revenue record. In 2023, this was 20.6 billion euros ($11.16 billion).
Earlier surveys also backed Greece’s positive performance in the tourism sector in 2024. In June, analysts at the National Bank of Greece (NBG) had projected that tourism was likely to break all previous records this year, with arrivals reaching 35 million tourists (up 7 percent from 2023) and earnings around 22 billion euros (up 10 percent compared to 2023).
Greece’s tourism breaks record after record
After a two-year pause during the pandemic when international travel was affected and tourism came to a standstill, Greece has been seeing a steady increase both in the number of tourist arrivals and tourism revenues.
In 2019, the last year before global travel was interrupted due to the COVID pandemic, Greece recorded revenues of 18.2 billion euros ($19.17 billion) and 31.3 million tourist arrivals. Numbers dropped dramatically in 2020 and 2021 and started to pick up again in 2022, when Greece welcomed 27.84 million international tourists, a 227 percent increase compared to 2020 but still 18 percent less than 2019 (pre-pandemic).
In 2023, Greece made a phenomenal comeback as an international tourism destination, reaching new heights and continuing to do so since. The number of tourists that visited the Mediterranean country of 10.3 million in 2023 (33 million) marked a 120 percent increase between 2019 and 2023.
Prospects for 2025 tourist season already looking optimistic
Greece’s tourism prospects are already looking good for the upcoming 2025 tourist season. During the World Travel Market, the largest tourism exhibition, in London in November 2024, demand for Greece remained strong. The Hellenic Hoteliers Federation has revealed early bookings for next year show a significant increase compared to the same period a year earlier.
Many hotels are currently offering discounts of up to 25 percent—if not higher. The increased demand may stem from the fact that tourists are taking advantage of these early-booking discounted prices.
Meanwhile, according to CV Villas, a British villa management company, bookings for luxury villas in Greece for 2025 have gone up by 29 percent compared to the same period the previous year. This reflects a steady preference among top spending tourists.
The Greek government anticipates generating millions of euros in revenue due to new charges on the hospitality and tourism sectors starting in 2025. These include an increase in the climate resilience fee and a new levy for cruise passengers.
Tourism accounts for about 25 percent of Greece’s GDP.