Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias confirmed that Greece is on track to yield record high revenues this year, “exceeding pre-pandemic levels”.
According to local officials, industry experts and analysts Greece’s tourism revenue is expected to reach €20 billion, the Minister told Xinhua news agency.
“2022 has been an amazing year for Greek tourism… I’m very happy to say that both branded and alternative destinations, on both islands and the mainland, were full of travelers and tourists this year, and this year we are set to surpass the numbers recorded in 2019, which has so far been a record year in tourism,” Mr Kikilias confirmed.
In 2019, Greece registered 32 million arrivals and some 18 billion euros in tourism-related revenues, according to Bank of Greece figures. Compared with 2019, revenues increased by 2.3 per cent in June 2022 alone.
Tourism-related revenues were 224.5 per cent higher in June and 329.3 per cent higher in January-June 2022 than in the corresponding periods of 2021, according to the latest BoG announcement.
The most recent Alpha Bank analysis expects Greece’s tourism-related revenues to reach €20 billion this year, giving a significant boost to GDP.
“After two very difficult years for tourism, we had an extremely positive rebound this year that helps us a lot and helps the Greek economy a lot,” Alexandros Vassilikos, president of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (HCH), also told Xinhua.
As a sector we usually account for 25 per cent of GDP, this is a very big number for a national economy.”
