Although it is only February, there are already clear signs that tourism in Greece, after a record year in 2023, is on course for a new growth of around 10% in 2024, according to the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini, as cited by Agerpres.

In addition to a 12% increase in holiday bookings in Greece in January compared to the same period in 2023, announced by the Hellenic Tourism Confederation, German operator TUI reported an 8% increase in average holiday bookings across Europe, indicating a more stable performance. from Greece, Spain and Turkey.

Along with the increase in demand for travel packages, the German operator also announced a 4% increase in the average price compared to 2023.

According to the Central Bank of Greece, which has announced that tourism revenue will reach 22 billion euros in 2023, it is estimated at 25 billion euros this year.

So far, travel agency bookings have increased significantly this year in Athens, Thessaloniki and nearby destinations. In the coming months, the number of bookings for summer destinations is expected to increase, especially for Rhodes, Crete, Kos, Corfu and Zakynthos. TUI currently has a total of 9.4 million bookings for winter 2023-20424 and summer this year, up from 8.7 million last year.

After the pandemic, tourism in Greece received record profits

The new figures come after Greece recorded another record year for tourism in 2023, along with other Mediterranean countries.

According to data published by the Central Bank of Greece, tourism revenues increased by 13.21% in the first 7 months of the year alone, to 10.321 billion euros, compared to 9.116 billion euros in the same period of 2019, the last year before the pandemic.

In addition, strong demand for autumn holidays in countries such as Germany and the UK has convinced TUI AG, Europe’s largest travel agency, to expand its operations in the Greek state until November, adding more than 30,000 seats on flights from the UK to Greece and Turkey. .

Greece’s tourism hit a record high in 2023 despite wildfires that ravaged several regions of the country and forced some tourists to return home before the end of their stay or cancel their planned vacation altogether.

The record set in 2023 by Greek tourism broke the record set just a year earlier, as global tourism as a whole enjoyed an impressive revival after years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Despite the difficulties in 2022, as a result of the war in Ukraine, Greece managed to achieve record figures compared to the figures of 2019,” – said in October 2022 the Minister of Tourism of Greece, Vassilis Kykilias.