Greece has moved up five places in the 2024 World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI), putting the country in 21st out of 119 countries in total.
This year’s is the second-ever edition of the TTDI, evolving from the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), a key indicator produced by the WEF since 2007. In this latest index, the US has the highest overall score of 5.24.
With an overall score of 4.52, Greece has seen a significant improvement on its 2019 ranking. The country received a high score for health and hygiene at 6.34, a decent score of 5.95 for tourist services and infrastructure, 5.85 for ICT readiness, and 5.52 for air transport infrastructure.
Greece’s weakest areas included travel and tourism demand sustainability, which sits at 3.00, cultural resources at 3.01, natural resources at 3.03, price competitiveness at 3.16, and non-leisure resources at 3.33.
Relative to the southern European average, Greece came out on top in environmental sustainability (5.23 vs. 4.94), health and hygiene (6.34 vs. 5.98), and tourist services and infrastructure (5.95 vs. 5.07). However, it did lag behind in business environment (4.47 vs. 4.64), security (5.30 vs. 5.88), price competitiveness (3.16 vs. 3.66), and cultural resources (3.01 vs. 3.90).
The top five countries by rank in the biennial index are the US, Spain, Japan, France, and Australia. Of the top 30 scorers, 26 are high-income countries, including 19 in Europe and seven in Asia-Pacific. These countries accounted for more than three-quarters of the travel and tourism industry’s GDP in 2022.
Besides Greece, other southern European countries also performed well, with Spain ranking 2nd, Italy ranking 9th, and Portugal 12th. Cyprus fell to the 30th position with a score of 4.37.
Record year for tourism in Greece
Greece is heading for a new record year in tourism in 2024, industry officials say, pointing to early bookings. The trajectory of airline reservations in mid-January, encompassing both sold tickets and seats allocated by airlines for the upcoming season, indicated a potential tourism surge of up to 10 percent in 2024 compared to the remarkable highs achieved in 2023.
“Greece is heading for the highest performance of all time,” in 2024, TUI tourism group’s Head of Communications, Aage Dünhaupt, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).
He pointed out that Crete, Rhodes, and Kos remain top destinations for company customers. This year, TUI is beginning the summer season in Greece earlier.
Asked about Germans’ vacation plans amid a fiscal crisis and economic recession in their country, Dünhaupt replied there was no reluctance or unwillingness. “On the contrary,” he explained, “pre-bookings for the summer of 2024 are above the levels of 2019 (pre-pandemic).” He predicted “a good summer in 2024 in the Mediterranean and especially in Greece.”