Travel and tourism in Greece - statistics & facts
Greece’s popular ancient cultural history and archaeological sites, as well as its countless beaches and islands, make it one of the most visited global destinations by inbound tourists. Like many Mediterranean nations, Greece’s economy relies heavily on holidaymakers: travel and tourism’s total contribution to GDP in Greece was above 19 percent in 2023, the third-highest among European Union countries after Portugal and Croatia. Overall, when considering the direct, indirect, and induced impact of travel and tourism on employment in Greece, these markets generated over 800,000 jobs in 2023, and this figure was expected to exceed the one million mark by 2034.
What are the leading inbound tourism markets in Greece?
In 2024, the number of inbound tourists in Greece surpassed 40 million, recovering from the impact of COVID-19 and reaching the highest figure to date. Both before and after the pandemic, most international travelers came from Europe, with Germany and the United Kingdom representing by far the leading inbound travel markets in Greece based on arrivals. Once breaking down the international visits to Greece by region, Attica, which includes the capital city of Athens, and the Southern Aegean, which comprises the islands of Rhodes and Mykonos, ranked as the most popular destinations in 2024. Combined, these two regions received over 16 million visits by international travelers.Â
What are the most popular destinations for Greek tourists?
While inbound tourism keeps breaking records, Greece’s outbound tourism market has recovered at a slower pace. In terms of international travel spending by Greek residents, pre-pandemic levels were exceeded for the first time in 2024, reaching 2.8 billion euros. However, in the same year, the number of Greek tourists traveling abroad was still around 15 percent lower than in 2019. Additionally, visits to Bulgaria, the leading outbound travel destination from Greece, also remained way below pre-pandemic figures. That said, other destinations such as Italy and France experienced the opposite trend, welcoming more travelers from Greece in 2024 than ever before. This realignment was also visible in outbound travel spending from Greece, where Italy overtook Germany as the top destination by expenditure in 2024.Â
