Inbound Tourist Arrivals to Greece Up by 31.2% in March

Photo source: Visit Greece

Greece welcomed some 874.0 thousand visitors in March, up by 31.2 percent over the same month a year ago who drove travel receipts up by 34.2 percent, found data released this week by the Bank of Greece (BoG).

More specifically, incoming traveler traffic through the country’s airports rose by 35.2 percent year-on-year while arrivals by road through Greece’s border-crossing points increased by 26.6 percent.

Central bank analysts attribute the 31.2 percent increase in March to more arrivals from within the EU (+23.9 percent) and from other countries (+39.3 percent).

In terms of traveler spending in March, which drove travel receipts up by 34.2 percent year-on-year, key source markets were Germany generating 37.7 million euros in travel receipts (+36.9 percent), France (+24.4 percent to 16.0 million euros), Italy (+127.0 percent to 27.1 million euros), the UK (+41.7 percent to 23.8 million euros), and the US (+44.0 percent to 54.7 million euros).

Broken down, receipts from EU residents increased by 30.3 percent to 166.2 million euros, up from 127.5 million in March 2023 and from travelers outside the EU by 40.3 percent to 190.6 million euros up from 135.8 million euros in March 2023.

According to the same data, in the first three months of the year, arrivals to Greece, which exclude cruise passengers, increased by 24.5 percent to 2,332.5 thousand, who generated a total of 942.0 million euros in the January–March period up by 28.2 percent over the same period a year ago. Key source markets in the period under review were Germany, the UK and the US.