Greece’s tourism industry showed strong growth and an impressive comeback in the first ten months of 2023.

The Bank of Greece (BG) recorded a significant increase in travel receipts year over year of 14.7%, exceeding pre-pandemic records.

According to central bank data, revenue from tourism from January to October was higher than revenue from all travel in 2019. The remarkable achievement was driven by a 17% surge in passenger volumes, amounting to 30.9 million.

Greek Travel Pages (GTP) reports that total travel income from January to October 2023 was a whopping €19.6 billion, a notable 14.7% rise over the same period in 2022. Notably, this amount exceeded the €18.17 billion that was reported in 2019.

Spending by European tourists increased significantly, amounting to €10,902.5 million, a notable 17.5% gain. Travel expenses totaling €8,153.3 million were donated by non-EU citizens. Germany was a major contributor to the overall ten-month growth in travel income, with tourists spending €3,396.6 million, a remarkable gain of 6.0%.

Furthermore, the United States and the United Kingdom witnessed rises of 8.3% (€3,326.0 million) and 8.0% (€1,217.7 million), respectively, while France saw a noteworthy growth of 10.8% to €1,389.0 million. On the other hand, revenue from Russia fell by 25.0% to €29.9 million.

Using the same information, October’s travel revenues increased by 10.2% over the same month the previous year, mostly due to a significant 14.0% increase in inbound arrivals.

October 2023 saw a notable increase in traveler spending from EU citizens, reaching €920.9 million. Arrivals from outside the EU also added to the boom, rising by 9.1%.

When the main markets driving the rise in receipts were examined, Germany topped the list with an astounding 18.5% increase, totaling €430.9 million. Closely behind were receipts from the UK, which had a significant increase of 25.3% to €311.3 million, and France, which saw an increase of 13.2% to €98.3 million.

The US, a crucial long-haul market, saw a huge fall in revenues of 29.4%, totaling €102.0 million, and Russia saw a similarly large decline of 38.9%, totaling €1.9 million.

At the same time, previous information from the central bank indicated that Greece was likely to exceed 30 million tourist arrivals for the year, paving the way for a record in the travel and tourism industry.