Skift: Athens Among Top 10 Most Searched Summer 2023 Travel Destinations

The Greek city of Athens is among the world’s top 10 most searched destinations for travel this summer, according to Skift’s 2023 State of Travel Report.

According to the US – based travel news website research, Athens ranked 10th on the list with Bangkok claiming the top spot as 2023’s must-visit hotspot.

Following Bangkok, Paris and London ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively, while Denpasar Bali and Barcelona rounding up the top 5.

Citing UNWTO data, Skift also included Greece with its 28 million visitors last year, in the top 10 world destinations for international arrivals in 2022. Spain ranked 1st with 72 million arrivals well ahead of US’s 51 million and Turkey’s 50 million.

Furthermore, Skift data showcased that when it came to trailing twelve months numbers of April 2023 nights spent in tourist accommodation, Greece was the 7th most sought out country in Europe still lagging behind 2019 numbers though by 4.5 percent.

According to the survey, Turkey, the Netherlands and Portugal had all managed to surpass 2019 levels by more than 5 percent each.

Other key Skift findings were:

• Global travel has finally managed to surpass 2019 levels in April 2023, a trend it has continued ever since, thanks to an increase in domestic travel.
• Turkey, Mexico and India managed the best ” travel comeback scores” when compared to 2019 levels.
• Only the Middle East has managed to exceed 2019 levels when it came to international arrivals.
• Pandemic trends like small flight booking windows and travel insurance remain strong.
• The hotel industry in Europe is thriving and was 7 percent above 2019 levels in June 2023.
• Long-haul travel to East Asian nations like Japan, China, and South Korea have fallen dramatically. China saw the biggest decline with arrivals down 81 percent vs. pre-Covid levels.
• France tops Chinese traveler’s destination bucket list for the next 12 months.