Nearly 30 Million People Chose to Holiday in Greece in 2022

Almost 30 million people chose to holiday in Greece last year with more than 4 million Brits leading the way, according to data released this week by the Bank of Greece (BoG).

A total of 4.48 million travelers from Britain visited Greece in 2022 up by 181.9 percent compared to 2021 and by 25 percent over 2019 generating 3.12 billion euros in tourism revenue for the year.

Overall, the number of arrivals to Greece in 2022 rose by 89.3 percent to 27.8 million up from 14.7 million in 2021 – an 81.5 percent increase through airports and a 133.1 percent rise via road border stations – generating a total of 17.63 billion euros in travel receipts or a 67.9 percent rise over a year earlier.

Source: BoG.

However, despite the strong arrivals, tourism revenues were down by 3.0 percent over pre-Covid 2019, when 18.18 billion euros were recorded.

Among Greece’s leading source markets, tourists from Germany spent more last year, generating 3.25 billion euros in travel receipts up from 2.96 billion in 2019.

More specifically, according to BoG data, travel receipts from Germany were up by 40.6 percent compared to 2021 and arrivals by 45 percent. Tourism-related revenues generated by the French increased by 27.9 percent to 1.26 billion euros with arrivals up by 49.6 percent and UK receipts were up by 113.1 percent to 3.12 billion euros.

Spending by travelers from the US also surged by 100.6 percent to 1.19 billion euros with arrivals up by 174.9 percent in 2022 over 2021. Meanwhile, spending by one of Greece’s traditional source markets, Russia, was down by 63.9 percent to 41.3 million euros and arrivals down by 69.8 percent as a result of the war.

Source: BoG.

Compared to pre-Covid 2019, travel receipts in 2022 were down by 3 percent and travel flows by 11.2 percent. Average spending per trip declined by 11.9 percent in 2022 over 2021 but exceeded 2019 levels by 9.7 percent.