Greece Saw More Tourists, More Money In 2013

Tourists on Kos, Greece. Photo: Region of South Aegean

Greece’s tourism revenue increased by 16.4 percent in 2013, reaching 12.1 billion euros from 10.4 billion euros in 2012, according to data recently released by the Bank of Greece.

The increase in tourism revenue in 2013 over 2012 resulted from an 18.7 percent increase in arrivals, while the average expenditure per trip during 2013 was 604 euros, down 1.9 percent (12 euros).

The data revealed that Greece was visited by over 20 million tourists from 17 million in 2012.

This development is mainly due to the increase in arrivals from countries of the euro area by 7.9 percent, which amounted to 6.3 million travelers, and secondarily to the increase in arrivals from EU28 countries outside the euro area by 6.7 percent, which amounted to 4.2 million visitors. Arrivals from countries outside the EU28 grew by 29.4 percent.

According to the data, German arrivals increased by 7.5 percent and arrivals from France were up by 17.9 percent. Arrivals from the United Kingdom dropped 3.9 percent.

In regards to tourists from countries outside the EU28, arrivals from Russia grew by 54.7 percent and arrivals from the U.S. increased by 24.8 percent.