Greece’s Jan-Sept 2019 Tourism Receipts Concentrated in Five Regions

Five regions in Greece generated the strongest highest tourism revenue in the January-September 2019 period with the South Aegean Region and Crete in the lead, final data of the Bank of Greece revealed this week.

More specifically, the country’s five regions accounted for 87.9 percent of total travel receipts (excluding cruises) in the first nine months of 2019 which amounted to 15.7 billion euros up by 14.2 percent.

The South Aegean Region, which includes popular destinations such as Mykonos, Santorini, and Rhodes, generated 4.69 billion euros up by 17.6 percent, followed by Crete at 3.19 billion euros up by 13.9 percent, the Central Macedonia Region 2.0 billion euros, Attica 2.0 billion euros, and the Ionian Islands 1.8 billion euros.

Greece’s eight other regions – Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus,  Western Greece, the North Aegean, Central Greece and  Western Macedonia – together accounted for 1.9 billion euros in travel receipts.

Meanwhile, the number of inbound visitors to Greece in the said period rose by 1.7 percent to 28,794 thousand from 28,322 thousand in January-September 2018.

In the same period, travelers to Greece made 31,319 thousand visits overall, 87.0 percent of which were made at destinations in the South Aegean, which welcomed 6,026 thousand visitors, Central Macedonia (5,903 thousand), Attica (4,655 thousand), Crete (4,584 thousand), Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (3,217 thousand), and the Ionian Islands (2,854 thousand).

Epirus, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Western Greece, Central Greece, the North Aegean, and Western Macedonia together accounted for 4,081 thousand visits.

Overall in the period under examination, travelers made 206,012 thousand overnight stays with five regions accounting for 83.8 percent of the total. More specifically, the South Aegean Region recorded 47,990 thousand stays, Crete (38,273 thousand), Central Macedonia (37,290 thousand), Attica (26,580 thousand), and the Ionian Islands (22,569 thousand).

A total of 33,310 thousand overnight stays were recorded in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Western Greece, Epirus, the North Aegean, Central Greece, and Western Macedonia.

Travel receipts for the nine-month period came to 16,107 million euros, up by 14.1 percent compared to the same period of 2018 driven by a 12.8 percent rise in receipts from EU residents at 11,100 million euros and by a 17.8 percent increase in receipts from non-EU nationals to 4,625 million euros.

France increased receipts by 18.4 percent to 997 million euros, as did the UK by 35.8 percent to 2,367 million euros, the US by 22.8 percent to 1,011 million euros, and Russia by 21.3 percent to 373 million euros.