BoG: 32.7 Million Travelers Chose Greece in 2023

Photo source: Visit Greece

A total of 32.7 million travelers from across the globe chose to visit Greece in 2023, up 17.6 percent from 27.8 million in 2022, according to data released Wednesday by the Bank of Greece (BoG).

The rise in arrivals last year generated 20,459.5 million euros in travel receipts, up by 15.7 percent compared to a year earlier, found the data.

Compared to pre-Covid levels, Greek tourism reached new heights in 2023, surpassing the record of 2019 (31.34 million tourists and 18.2 billion euros in revenue).

2023 arrivals

Excluding cruise passengers, arrivals through Greece’s airports increased by 12.7 percent and via road border-crossing points by 34.9 percent.

Source: Bank of Greece

The number of EU travelers to Greece rose by 15.6 percent year-on-year to 19,640.9 thousand and non-EU nationals by 20.8 percent to 13,094.2 thousand.

Leading the way in 2023 were travelers from the US, up by 29.2 percent to 1,406.5 thousand and Germany, up by 9.5 percent to 4,764.2 thousand, followed by those from France (+4.2 percent to 1,831.0 thousand), and the UK (+2.4 percent to 4,591.7 thousand). Arrivals from Russia dropped by 1.0 percent to 35.7 thousand last year.

Travel receipts in 2023 came to 20,459.5 million euros, marking a 15.7 percent rise over 2022 driven by increases in receipts from EU residents which were up by 11.5 percent to 11,158.3 million euros and by non-EU nationals by 18.5 percent to 8,591.5 million euros.

Main source markets driving travel receipts up in 2023 were Germany, up by 9.5 percent to 3,563.8 million euros, France (+11.6 percent to 1,425.4 million euros), the UK (+5.8 percent to 3,307.8 million euros), and the US (+14.0 percent to 1,367.6 million euros). Receipts from Russia dropped by 20.8 percent to 32.8 million euros.

In the last month of 2023, travel receipts increased by 41.5 percent on the back of a 32.0 percent rise in inbound traveler flows.