Greece Expected To Break Record On Foreign Arrivals, Tourism Revenue

Photo © Maria Theofanopoulou

The 2014 tourism season in Greece is expected to mark a new record in terms of foreign tourist arrivals and revenue.

According to data by the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), the average spend per trip of tourists in Greece will exceed 700 euros against some 660 euros last year (not counting visitors from cruise ships).

SETE’s estimates for this tourism season see Greece welcoming 19 million tourists (21.2 million when including cruise visitors) and collecting 13.5 billion euros in tourism revenue from 12.2 billion euros last year.

According to data from the Bank of Greece, tourist arrivals were up by 21.1 percent in the January-April period compared to the same period last year, exceeding 1.9 million.

According to Greek newspaper Kathimerini, the increase of visitors to Athens has contributed significantly to the rise in arrivals to the country.

During the first four months of the year, the largest increase in arrivals to Greece was from Russia (54.2 percent), followed by arrivals from the UK (up by 44.2 percent), the United States (24 percent) and Germany (14.8 percent). On the other hand, arrivals from France dropped by nine percent during the January-April 2014 period.

In April alone, tourist arrivals increased by 30.6 percent year-on-year, reaching 728,000.