Tourism Arrivals Surpass 17 Million In Greece

Greek tourism has exceeded 17 million foreign arrivals on an annual basis for the first time ever, without even having to wait for 2013 to end. The record is not expected to last for long, though, as 2014 is promising to be an even better year in terms of holidaymaker numbers.

Data released recently by the Bank of Greece showed that the number of arrivals from abroad grew 15.5 percent in the first 10 months of the year from the same period in 2012 to reach 17.08 million.

The all-time record for tourism revenues, dating from 2008, is also expected to be broken this year, as revenues (including from cruise tourism) up to the end of October had already come to 11.6 billion euros – just a few million short of the record for the whole of 2008 – posting annual growth of 14.8 percent. The revenues record will certainly be smashed with the inclusion of the data for the last couple of months of the year.

The biggest increase in arrivals in the year to end-October was from Russia (55.2 percent), as tourists from that country numbered 1.34 million. Arrivals from the US grew 29.2 percent to reach 434,500, from France the total rose by 18.4 percent to come to 1.13 million, while from Germany they climbed by 7.6 percent to 2.2 million. Arrivals from Britain fell 4.6 percent to 1.8 million.

October arrivals reached an all-time record for the 10th month of the year, rising 18.1 percent from 2012 to reach 1.54 million.

All signs point to an even better year in 2014 for tourism both in terms of arrivals and revenues. Bookings via foreign tour operators are up and their representatives are already making estimates for additional growth in arrivals. Furthermore, air carriers have planned for 1 million additional seats to Greece for 2014.

The Greek presidency of the European Union in the first half of next year will also add to the country’s positive publicity. Sector professionals said that the only way for the country not to witness a rise in tourism would be a return to political instability.

Source: Kathimerini