German, UK, US Tourists Drove November Arrivals to Greece Upward

Travelers from Germany, the UK, and the US drove November 2023 arrivals up by 27.5 percent to 1,036.1 thousand compared to the same month in 2022 boosting travel receipts by 18.9 percent and reflecting a longer tourism season in Greece, according to data released this week by the Bank of Greece (BoG).

More specifically, the number of travelers arriving through Greek airports rose by 33.3 percent compared to November 2022 and via road border-crossing points by 20.0 percent. Central bank analysts attribute the overall increase to stronger traveler flows from both within the EU27, which grew by 30.6 percent, and outside the EU, up by 24.2 percent.

A closer look at source markets for November shows a 105.5 percent increase to 137.6 thousand travelers from Germany; a 14.7 percent rise to 52.2 thousand tourists from the UK; and a 49.6 percent increase to 101.0 thousand travelers from the US.

Marking declines in arrivals in November were Russia (-70.8 percent) and France (-3.6 percent).

January-November: Over 31 million tourists visit Greece

Meanwhile, according to the same data which excludes cruise passengers, in the 11-month period to November 2023, the number of inbound travelers rose by 17.3 percent to 31,969.7 thousand, up from 27,255.4 thousand in the same period in 2022. Broken down, arrivals through airports rose by 12.5 percent and by 34.5 percent via road border points.

Traveler flows from within the EU rose by 15.0 percent year-on-year to 19,285.5 thousand while arrivals from non-EU countries increased by 20.9 percent to 12,684.2 thousand.

Driving receipts upward to a total of 20.1 billion euros in the January-November 2023 period were arrivals from Germany which increased by 8.7 percent to 4,680.6 thousand, from France (+4.0 percent to 1,809.8 thousand), from the UK (+2.9 percent to 4,543.7 thousand), and from the US (+31.3 percent to 1,369.9 thousand). The number of travelers from Russia dropped by 5.9 percent to 33.2 thousand.