Between January and November last year, travel receipts reached €20.115 billion, as the Bank of Greece revealed.

Such a figure marks a 15.4% increase compared to 2022 and a 10% increase compared to 2019, the pre-pandemic year, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

In 2022, travel receipts amounted to nearly €17.7 billion, whereas in 2019 reached about €18.2 billion.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Greece has exceeded 2019 levels in terms of tourism revenue, reaching over €20 billion during the first eleven months of 2023.
• The country experienced the most significant rise in travel receipts and tourist numbers from Germany and the UK.
• Greek authorities have recently implemented a climate tax on accommodations based on the rating of the establishments.

This development was due to increased receipts from residents of the EU27 by 11% to €10,997.2 million and in receipts from residents outside the EU27 by 18.4% to €8,419.4 million.

Among EU27 countries, Germany topped the list, with receipts reaching €3.51 billion, followed by France with €1.41 billion. Receipts from both countries increased compared to last year by 8.7% and 11.6%, respectively.

Meanwhile, among non-EU27 countries, receipts from the United Kindom reached €3.32 billion, marking a 6% increase. Revenues from the United States amounted to 1.34 billion, a 15.1 per cent increase.

However, Greece’s tourism experienced a 22.8% decrease in receipts from Russia, reaching €31.4 million.

In addition to revenues, during the 11 months of 2023, Greece saw a 17.3% increase in inbound travellers compared to 2022.

The Bank of Greece unveiled that the volume of travellers passing through airports increased by 12.5%, whereas the traveller traffic at road border-crossing points experienced a growth of 34.5%.

In the period under review, the number of travellers from within the EU27 rose by 15% year-on-year to 19,285.5 thousand, while travellers from outside the EU27 increased by 20.9% to 12,684.2 thousand.