Over 24.2 Million Tourists Visit Greece in 2014

An increased number of international arrivals to Greece augmented tourism revenue in 2014 to 13.4 billion euros, the central bank said this week.

According to the Bank of Greece figures, a total of 24.2 million travelers visited Greece in 2014, boosting annual travel receipts by 10.2 percent to 13.4 billion euros.

The number of incoming tourists increased in 2014 by 20.7 percent compared to 2013, with 54.6 percent from EU countries and 36.2 percent from non-EU countries.

In 2014, passenger traffic from EU countries increased by 25.9 percent compared with 2013. This was due primarily to a 40.0 percent rise in arrivals from non-eurozone countries amounting to 5,851 thousand travelers.

Arrivals from Germany rose by 8.5 percent, from France by 27.0 percent and from the United Kingdom by 13.2 percent at 2,090 thousand travelers.

Meanwhile, the number of arrivals from non-EU countries rose by 18.8 percent.

Arrivals from Russia dropped by 7.6 percent to 1,250 thousand travelers, while arrivals from the US grew by 26.9 percent to 592 thousand travelers.

In the meantime, revenue from German tourists increased by 5.0 percent to 1.995 million euros, from French travelers by 24.7 percent to 1.129 million euros and from UK visitors by 14.6 percent to at 1.553 million euros.

On the downside, receipts from Russian travelers dropped by 13.6 percent, to 1.157 million euros. Those from the US, however, rose by 15.2 percent to 655 million euros.

A total of 3,858 cruise ships arrived in Greece in 2014, compared to 4,918 in 2013, with total receipts from cruise passengers dropping by 14.5 percent to 457 million euros, compared with 2013.