Greece Sees High Growth of German Tourists

The number of German tourists traveling to Greece recorded a high increase in the first half of 2018.

According to provisional data released by the Bank of Greece, during the January-June 2018 period, the number of visitors from Germany increased by 38.9 percent to 1,456 thousand compared to the first six months of 2017. During the same period this year, tourist receipts from Germany rose by 44.5 percent to 972 million euros.

In June alone, the Germans were once again in the lead as arrivals to Greece increased by 24.3 percent to 568 thousand, compared to the same month last year. Greece also saw receipts from Germany in June rising by 23.1 percent to 407 million euros.

Regarding tourists to Greece during the first six months of the year from other countries within the euro area, visitors from France increased by 11 percent to 459 thousand and from the United Kingdom rose by 10.5 percent to 1,058 thousand. Tourist receipts from France during the January-June 2018 period increased by 11.9 percent to 276 million euros and from the UK grew 7 percent to 707 million euros.

Inbound tourism to Greece rises in H1 2018

In January-June 2018, the number of inbound visitors to Greece in general rose by 19.1 percent to 9,456 thousand, compared with 7,941 thousand in the same period of 2017. During the same period, travel receipts totaled 4,848 million euros, up 18.9 percent relative to the same period of 2017.

Meanwhile, in January-June 2018 the number of visitors from Russia to Greece fell by 18.7 percent to 152 thousand and receipts from the country decreased by 23.4 percent to 99 million euros.

On the other hand, Greece saw the number of visitors from the United States rise by 16.5 percent to 348 thousand during the first six months of the year, with receipts from American tourists increasing by 5.4 percent to 288 million euros.