Another great distinction for Greece came this week at the prestigious annual Wave Awards in London, where it was declared as the best cruise destination (Port or Country) in the world for 2019.

Greece also came second – for the second year in a row – as international holiday-makers’ Favourite Cruise Destination distinction.

This award comes as a new study by the World & Travel Tourism Council, announcing that the tourism and travel sector in Greece grew by 6.9 per cent in 2018, at a rate 3.5 times higher than the growth rate of the national economy at large, which was 2.0 per cent.

According to the Council, Greece’s tourism represents 20.6 per cent of the country’s GDP, compared to 10.4 per cent, the global rate for tourism to GDP.

“One in five euros spent in Greece last year came from the tourism and travel industry, a spending total of 37.5 billion euros,” the study notes.

This is also confirmed by the WTTC’s Economic Impact Research 2019 Annual Review of the economic impact and social importance of tourism.

This survey, having been conducted for nearly 30 years, shows that the growth of tourism and travel in Greece went beyond the European Union’s sector growth rate, boosted by 18.5 billion euros from the spending of international visitors.

At the same time, the industry growth has boosted the creation of jobs in the sector, providing employment to 988,600 individuals.

According to the WTTC’s estimated trajectory of Greek tourism, in 2019, this figure is expected to exceed one million jobs.

Moreover, the famous Disney Cruise Line just announced that it will return to Greece for the first time in five years during the summer of 2020 with it’s most popular vessel, the gigantic ‘Disney Magic’, that has a capacity of transporting 2,700 passengers and 945 crew members.