Eurostat: Greece in Top 10 Global Tourist Destinations

Athens, Greece.

The EU accounted for 45.8 percent of all arrivals in the world in 2022 with Greece being among the top destinations, according to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

At the same time, according to Eurostat data released on occasion of World Tourism Day this week, the most visited destinations in Europe in addition to Greece, included France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Austria.

Eurostat data found that international tourists represented 43.0 percent of all nights spent in EU tourist accommodation facilities in 2022. In 11 out of the 27 EU countries, most tourists were foreigners.

Source: Eurostat.

In Greece, international tourists accounted for 84 percent of all nights spent. Foreign travelers accounted for more than 90 percent of the tourism nights spent Malta (92 percent), Croatia and Cyprus (both 91 percent). In Luxembourg, the foreign market accounted for 86 percent of the tourism nights, while in Austria, Slovenia, Portugal and Spain, the figure ranged between 60 percent and 70 percent.

In absolute terms, the highest numbers of international tourism nights were recorded in Spain (270 million nights) and Italy (201 million nights), jointly accounting for 40 percent of all international tourism nights spent.

In Greece, the trend is set to continue in 2023. According to Bank of Greece (BoG) data, travel receipts in the January-July period increased by 20.2 percent over the same period in 2022 and traveler flows in the first seven months of the year rose by 21.9 percent.

In the eight-month period to August 2023, Greek airports handled 50.15 million passengers, marking a 14.5 percent rise over 2022 and an 11.7 percent increase compared to 2019.