Industry Reports & Trends

The popular Greek island of Santorini is one of the four new cities added to the European Backpacker Index For 2014 due to high demand.

The Greek hotel sector expects to achieve significant improvements in both occupancy and room rates this year, according to the latest tourism barometer report on the expectations of the Greek hospitality sector for the first quarter of 2014.

Greece recorded the highest increase in the number of nights spent in hotels last year among all 28 European Union member states, according to data released by Eurostat.

Greece’s travel balance showed a surplus of 10.137 billion euros during the January-November 2013 period, up by 1.523 billion euros (or a 17.7 percent increase) compared with the same period in 2012.

Passenger traffic in the port of Piraeus fell to 17,669,774 passengers in 2013, from 17,978,728 in 2012, although passenger traffic in the sea cruise sector jumped 11.10 percent to 2,296,457 departure-arrivals from 2,066,925 in 2012.

Arrivals by air from abroad last year grew by 8.8 percent year-on-year reaching 14.31 million, compared with 13.15 million in 2012, thanks to increased activity from the Russian, French and US markets.

The impressive course of Greek tourism last year has been officially confirmed by the international arrivals data for the first nine months of 2013 published recently by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and its cruise line members are looking forward to a positive year of growth with a 2014 passenger forecast of 21.7 million worldwide guests on CLIA’s 63 member lines.

Despite global economic challenges, international tourism results were well above expectations as arrivals grew by five percent in 2013, reaching a record 1,087 million arrivals.

Greece is included among the most desired destinations for China’s wealthy travelers this year, according to a recent study by Travelzoo Asia-Pacific.