Greece's record-breaking year for tourism

Greece had a record-breaking year for tourism in 2023, with revenue figures exceeding those before the pandemic. 

Numbers for this year's tourism season are also looking very promising, with some areas already at a high percentage of booking capacity. Hotel owners are hoping to make the experience better for tourists and, in turn, more lucrative for them. 

But many didn't expect how busy it would be after the pandemic. 

"We saw many people last year, and the season extended until October," hotel owner Giannis Kalamakis told CGTN. "In other years, the season ended by early September. But in 2023, September and October were fully booked, with even some arriving in November, making last year's season longer," he added.

He wasn't alone in being busy – Greece just had its best-ever tourism season. Numbers have surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with an increase in foreign tourism revenues of more than 10 percent compared to 2019, the last record year.

While several Greek islands and the capital Athens were at total full capacity until late October, some visitors also looked to diversify their holidays, creating a new trend.

"We still think about Greece as the Acropolis, the sun, and the beach. But we also see a shift in that," Hellenic Hoteliers Association member Evgenios Vssilikos told CGTN. "People are getting to know new places and not just the very popular places that we've all had in mind for the last 30 years. We see a lot of people trying to shift to something different, something more remote."

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The trend for tourists to seek out more authentic and remote places is growing. That's one reason for the increase in the number of tourists visiting Greece to 32 million last year from 27 million in 2022. 

But although those numbers seem positive on paper, according to the hotelier's association, they could be problematic.

"We would like to change the quantity into quality," said Vssilikos. "So, maybe the same number of people coming, but having them spend more, rather than having records in quantity, which obviously can create problems in different parts of the city, in different parts of the country, and not give the same experience to the people visiting."

For that to happen, the hoteliers' association wants better infrastructure and more convenient access to sites and museums.

With travel receipts of over $20 billion, 2023 was the best year yet for Greek tourism. While it's only the beginning of the tourism season, bookings are already over 60 percent for the summer in the most popular destinations, pointing to another record-breaking season and making Greece a five-star holiday destination.

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Cover image: Beachgoers in a southern suburb of Athens, last month. /Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters