Study: Greece Tourism Prospect Strong but More Needs to be Done

Greece has evolved into a leading tourism destination ranked among the world’s top 5 brands but more needs to be done for the country to maintain its strong standing and remain competitive, found a study released this week by Greek research and policy institute diaNEOsis.

Findings reveal that in order for Greece to keep ahead of rival destinations it must first of all diversify its tourism products, secondly, equally distribute tourist activity to all of the country’s regions and lastly, extend the tourist season.

In view of the sector’s fast rising rate of growth in the coming years and its contribution to the national and local economies, Greek tourism stakeholders will have to find ways to protect the environment and resources, safeguard destinations from overtourism, and maintain a viable balance between tourism and locals’ lives.

More specifically, tourism contributed 12.6 percent to Greece’s GDP in 2019, when the country reported 34 million international arrivals who stayed for seven nights on average. Worldwide, Greece is ranked 13^th in terms of global tourism arrivals but tourism spending is much less than other rival destinations.

Short tourist season: An issue that must be addressed

A key issue that must be addressed, according to diaNEOsis analysts, is the concentration of tourism activity in few areas and the country’s short tourist season, with the bulk of hotel occupancy concentrated between June and September.

At the same time, 60 percent of all of the country’s tourism revenues are concentrated in three island regions – the Ionian Islands, the South Aegean and Crete. Indicatively, for the second consecutive year, the South Aegean Region, which includes popular islands such as Milos, Mykonos, Rhodes and Santorini, reported the highest arrivals, overnight stays and revenues in 2022.

According to DiaNEOsis analysts, one way to address the aforementioned challenges is to link the primary sector with tourism, which will allow for diversification with the development of new tourism products, lead to the creation of new jobs and help distribute tourism to other regions.