More and more Greeks have been traveling abroad, according to data provided by the National Bank of Greece.
During the last 13 years, flights and cruises outside Greece have seen an increase of 240 per cent; from 3,6 million trips in 2005 hitting 7,96 trips in 2018.
Of those trips a whopping 7,3 million tickets belong to individual travelers while 700.000 were booked through travel agencies.
Greece’s most favourite – or popular – destination for 2018 was Bulgaria with 2,37 million trips, while Turkey came second with 967.000 arrivals from Greece. Within the European Union, Germany was the most preferred destination receiving 499.000 Greeks; neighbouring Italy received 405.000 visitors.
ALSO READ: Souvlaki prices increase to 3 euros in Greece this summer
Many are those who chose Easter to visit foreign destinations, 15 per cent more than last year according to FedHATTAn affiliated travel agencies.
With Israel and Jerusalem at the top of the list around this time of year, mainly for religious reasons, Jordan, Dubai, Morocco and Egypt are also high on the list, usually as an additional stop before or after Jerusalem.
Constantinople, Italy, France and Spain are also very popular in Spring especially among younger travelers. Meanwhile, Russia, Romania and Central Europe or the Balkans seem to be high on the list when it comes to organised tours.
In the last two years, however, there has also been a surge in distant and more costly destinations such as Peru, Africa, the US, Latin America and Australia.
Even though the Greek economy appears to be recuperating from the crisis, travel agents are yet to make up for the loss they suffered during the last decade, Lyssandros Tsilidis, President of Greece’s Travel Agents Association told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).
ALSO READ: Australian citizens applying for partner visas also under scrutiny as of 17 April