Germany, UK, France Top Tourism Markets for Greece in Summer 2020

Visitors from Germany, the UK, France, Poland and Italy made up the bulk of incoming travelers this summer season after Greece reopened to tourists in the midst of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, according to Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis.

More specifically, based on the number of completed Passenger Locator Forms (PLF) submitted at country admission points, 4.1 million travelers have entered Greece to date starting June 15, or 23 percent of the total number recorded in the same period in 2019. It should be noted that the third quarter of the year has traditionally been the strongest period for inbound tourism in Greece.

Tourism stakeholders welcomed the arrival of Polish travelers, which recovered in large part last year’s percentage. More specifically, 871 thousand German tourists visited Greece this year against almost 2 million last year and 618.2 thousand UK travelers compared to 2 million visitors in 2019.

Next on the list of leading markets, the French with 336 thousand visitors in Q3 from 856 thousand in 2019, followed by almost 284 thousand travelers from Poland compared to 474 thousand last year, and 213 thousand visitors from Italy against more than 1 million last year.

Travelers this year also came from The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Romania and Switzerland.

Nearly all main long-haul source markets for Greece remained taking a toll on revenue and visitor figures this year.

Presenting the data last week to ministerial council, Minister Theoharis said the tourism industry demonstrated “vigilance and professionalism being timely prepared on both business and health levels, with 60 percent of hotels nationwide opening on June 15, and a replacement rate of employment exceeding 65 percent”.