Study: Greeks’ Travel Choices Shift Over 2005-2021 Period

Greeks prefer to travel to cheaper destinations for a shorter duration within the EU, found the “Outbound Travel Traffic from Greece: 2005-2021” study released this week by SETE Intelligence (INSETE).

More specifically, according to analysts at the research department of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), the number of Greeks traveling abroad has been rising since 2008 while average spending per person in 2017 dropped by 65 percent to 248 euros from 712 euros in 2008.

Greeks were also spending less at destinations with average expenditure per night down by 40 percent from 75 euros in 2008 to 45 euros in 2017.

Their trips were also shorter with average length of stay down by 42 percent to 5.5 nights in 2017 from 9.5 nights in 2008.

Before the outbreak of Covid-19, and supported by a recovering economy, Greeks showed a higher demand for travel mainly to eurozone countries.

According to the study, impacted by the economic crisis over the 2005-2019 period, Greeks’ preferences in travel shifted from the higher cost destinations such as Italy, Germany, France, the UK and the Netherlands, dropping from 33 percent in 2005 to 21 percent in 2019, after which they chose to visit neighboring, lower-cost countries such as Turkey and Bulgaria. Indicatively, travel to these destinations went from 19 percent in 2005 to 36 percent in 2019.

This all changed with the Covid pandemic after 2019 during which travel abroad from Greece came to a standstill.

Key takeaways of the study

Departures through to 2019:

• travel between 2005 and 2008 increased by 4 percent from 3.6 million to 3.8 million
• travel between 2008 and 2017 rose by 104 percent from 3.8 million to 7.7 million
• travel between 2017 and 2019 increased by 2 percent from 7.7 million to 7.8 million
• travel during pandemic years 2019 to 2021 decreased by 74 percent from 7.8 million to 2.0 million.

In terms of spending through to 2021:

• spending from 2005 to 2008 increased by 10 percent from 2.4 billion euros to 2.7 billion euros
• spending from 2008 to 2017 dropped by 29 percent from 2.7 billion euros to 1.9 billion euros
• spending from 2017 to 2019 rose by 44 percent from 1.9 billion euros to 2.7 billion euros
• spending from 2019 to 2021 declined by 59 percent from 2.7 billion euros to 1.1 billion euros.

With regard to average per capita expenditure to 2021:

• average spending per person from 2005 to 2008 increased by 6 percent from 673 euros in 2005 to 712 euros in 2008
• average spending per person from 2008 to 2017 dropped by 65 percent from 712 euros to 248 euros
• average spending per person from 2017 to 2019 rose by 41 percent from 248 euros to 350 euros
• average spending per person from 2019 to 2021 increased by 57 percent from 350 euros to 549 euros.

Regarding destinations through to 2019:

• travel to all destinations from 2005 to 2008 decreased with the exception of Russia (+70 percent), the US (+29 percent), Austria (+20 percent), the Netherlands (+11 percent), and Spain (+8 percent)
• travel to all destinations from 2008 to 2017 rose with the exception of the Czech Republic (-48 percent), Egypt (-19 percent), Italy (-18 percent), France (-18 percent) and Russia (-8 percent)
• travel to all destinations from 2017 to 2019 increased, with the exception of Bulgaria (-12 percent) with increases in Poland (+91 percent), Czech Republic (+73 percent), Egypt (+59 percent), Spain (+55 percent) and Austria (+47 percent).