Greek Travel Receipts from UK, French, German Markets Rise in 2022

Tourism revenues generated by travelers from the UK, France, and Germany increased in 2022 compared to pre-Covid 2019, demonstrating a robust demand for Greece, said Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias this week.

The minister cited Bank of Greece (BoG) tentative data, covering January-December 2022, according to which travel receipts by UK travelers were up by 21.8 percent, by French tourists up by 16.4 percent and by German visitors up by 10 percent over 2019.

Kikilias went on to add that ministry efforts to extend the tourism season beyond the summer months and new agreements with airlines for more flights had begun to pay off. According to central bank data, tourism-related receipts last year exceeded initial forecasts by 2.6 billion euros, reaching some 17.6 billion.

Source: BoG.

Among others, he referred to deals with airlines for 63 weekly direct flights from the US to Athens, which he said boosted American visitor numbers in January as well as revenues for the month.

In order to meet the increasing number of visitors, Greece is moving ahead with high-priority infrastructure projects, said Kikilias, adding eight in 10 investments are now related to tourism and focusing on the sustainability of the tourism product and of destinations.

According to BoG data, in 2022, the number of international arrivals grew by 89.3 percent and receipts by 67.9 percent year‑on‑year recouping 88.8 percent and 97.0 percent of their respective pre-pandemic 2019 levels. Net transport receipts increased by 5.6 percent.