Greece Sees Tourist Spending Up in 2021 Due to Longer Stays

Photo © GTP

Travelers to Greece spent 30 percent more on their holidays in 2021 compared to pre-Covid 2019 mainly due to extended stays, found a study released this week by the SETE Institute (INSETE), the Greek Tourism Confederation’s (SETE) research department.

More specifically, 16,376 thousand visits were recorded in 2021 in the country’s 13 regions, down by 55.3 percent over 2019 and 36,643 thousand visits.

Leading markets in terms of visits last year were those of Germany, the UK and France.

INSETE analysts attribute higher spending to the fact that tourists stayed for an additional two days on average and not to hotel rates, which rose slightly in 2021.

A closer look at data reveals a 30.7 percent increase in average spending per visit to 631 euros from 482 euros in 2019.

The number of days was up by 26.4 percent to eight days from an average six and average spending per night stay in 2021 edged up by 3.4 percent to 79 euros from 76 euros a year earlier.

INSETE data also found an increase in expenditure per visit per region driven by the rise in average length of stay.

South Aegean islands attract the most

The South Aegean Region was in the lead in terms of highest spending per visit and per night and maximum length of stay in 2021.

Spending in the region per visit was up by 14.7 percent to 861 euros, spending per night up by 7.2 percent to 104 euros and average length of stay was up by 58.3 percent to 12.8 nights compared to the average eight in other regions.

Overall in 2021, five regions accounted for the majority of visits to Greece (86.0 percent): South Aegean (22.1 percent), Crete (19.2 percent), Central Macedonia (17.9 percent), Attica (16.1 percent), and the Ionian Islands (10.6 percent).

Meanwhile, the following five regions accounted for 90.0 percent of revenues: South Aegean (30.2 percent), Crete (23.2 percent), Attica (14.2 percent), Ionian Islands (12.6 percent), and Central Macedonia (9.8 percent).

Who spent the most in Greece and where

Top 3 main markets of each Greek region based on travel receipts. Source: Bank of Greece, Data processing: INSETE

Indicatively, in 2021, the South Aegean Region recorded the highest travel receipts at 3.121 million euros generated in large part by Germans (750 million euros), Brits (406 million euros), and the French (351 million euros).

Travel receipts for the Region of Crete amounted to 2.395 million euros generated by tourists from Germany (834 million euros), France (283 million euros), and the UK (181 million euros). And in third place, tourism-related revenues in the Region of Attica, which includes Athens, came to  1.466 million euros driven by visitors from the UK, the US, and France.

INSETE’s study (in Greek) can be found here.