Greece expects a record year: With more tourists than 2019, the year before Corona paralyzed the world. And despite Russia's aggressive war in Ukraine, energy crisis and inflation.
The Greek tourism industry is sailing towards a new record. Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias expects more visitors than in 2019, the previous record year. Back then, in the year before Corona, 33 million people were vacationing in Greece. Revenue from tourism rose to 2019 billion euros in 18,2, and the Greek central bank expects revenue of around 20 billion for this year, according to Deutsche Welle.
The figures so far are promising: since the beginning of August, almost a million tourists have been arriving in Greece by plane every week, according to Minister Kikilias. Hundreds of thousands more travel by car to Halkidiki or Pieria in the north of the country, most of them from the Western Balkans. Things went similarly well in July 2022, and June was also an exceptionally good month with 3,5 million foreign visitors.