Although the results travel receipts during 2022 did not exceed the indicators of the last year before the pandemic, i.e. 2019, income from the main Hellas his purchases Great Britainher France And her Germany increased by 21.8%, 16.4% and 10% respectively compared to the same year. At the same time, the average travel expenses among all tourists who visited the country increased by 9.7% last year.

These data, published Bank of Greece are very encouraging for 2023, as last year’s figures Greek tourismachieved a full post-pandemic recovery, came to the markets of Russia and Ukrainian “freeze” because of the war and China stay depressed because of the pandemic. It is noted that the three countries listed above are markets that have been visited by more than one million people in previous years.

Compared to 2019, in 2022, total travel revenue decreased by 3.0%, while inbound passenger traffic decreased by 11.2%. In particular, in 2022, inbound traffic increased by 89.3% compared to 2021 and amounted to 27.835 million travelers compared to 14.7 million in 2021 and 31.34 million in 2019. And travel revenue showed an increase of 67.9% compared to 2021 and amounted to 17.631 billion euros. against 18.17 billion euros in 2019.

The increase in average per capita spending, as well as a recovery of 97% of revenues in 2019, was driven by receipts from the three main European markets for Greece, in particular the UK, Germany and France.

In particular, from Germany, travel revenue in 2022 amounted to 3.255 billion euros, compared to 2.95 billion euros in 2019, i.e. 10% more.

In 2022, 27.835 million travelers visited our country, compared to 31.34 million in 2019.

More Germans also visited the country: 4.35 million travelers last year compared to 4.02 million in 2019, an increase of 8.1%.

Receipts from France last year rose by 16.4% compared to 2019 to 1.268 billion euros, compared to 1.08 billion euros. Accordingly, the number of visitors from France increased by 14% to 1.75 million from 1.54 million in 2019.

However, the largest increase from pre-pandemic levels was recorded in travel receipts from the UK. In particular, they amounted to 3.123 billion euros from 2.56 billion euros in 2019, and the number of travelers from the UK last year increased by 28.2% compared to 2019, to 4.485 million people, from 3.499 million

It is worth noting that US receipts last year also rose, albeit slightly, by 0.6% compared to 2019, to 1.95 billion euros from 1.18 billion euros. This is despite U.S. tourism not fully recovering to pre-pandemic levels at 1.08 million visitors, up from 1.17 million in 2019.

It is recalled, however, that during the first three months of 2022, passenger traffic was practically negligible, as restrictions were still in place in the first two months due to the pandemic, and again in March due to acute global concerns about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is characteristic that the tourist flow from Russia decreased by 94% compared to 2019, and receipts by 64%.

The bar is high for 2023

Both the Ministry of Tourism and the Greek tourism industry have calculated that if there are no unforeseen unpleasant events this year, such as the war in Ukraine last year and even more so the pandemic in previous years, then Greek tourism will be able to outperform from 10% to 20%. % in terms of travel revenue as of 2019. This year, airline seat planning, as well as advance bookings, are showing a 10-20% increase, depending on the destination, compared to last year and compared to before 2019. At the same time, the number of flights from abroad increased to new historical highs already in 2022, and dozens of additional flights are planned for this year. The country remains highly favored by Europeans and specifically in 5th place, while maintaining positions in the top ten and in major long-distance markets such as the US, Canada, as well as Asia and Australia.