Despite a slight recovery in room revenue and occupancy, Athens still trails cities like Madrid, Rome, and Barcelona in tourism performance, with only Istanbul falling behind in key metrics.

Athens has gone from stopover to a popular city destination, attracting around 8 million tourists a year but the municipality is seeing little direct benefit.

At the heart of the discussions was closer coordination in addressing shared challenges in the hospitality sector, alongside advancing the industry’s green and digital transition.

The Greek capital was named Europe’s Leading Cultural City Destination and Europe’s Leading City Tourist Board.

In 2024 alone, Greece welcomed 138,600 Chinese visitors, a 30% rise compared to 2019.

The Greek capital moved up five spots in ICCA rankings for 2024, boosting its reputation as a leading MICE destination.

With 10 million visitors expected, Athens doubles down on innovation, sustainability, and global partnerships.

Athens must plan like Barcelona to avoid an overtourism crisis, said the mayor, adding that the city is expecting some 10 million travelers this year.

2024 was a record year for passenger traffic at Athens International Airport, reinforcing the city's position as a leading global destination.

Strategies to maximize Greece's yachting tourism potential take center stage at the 4th Panhellenic Yachting Conference on Feb. 20-21

The Municipality of Athens is expected to present the results of a tourism carrying capacity study later this month.

The hands-on, meaningful engagement on offer from this type of culinary holiday is to slowly overtake conventional tourism incentives

European cities like Istanbul, Rome, and Milan are also seeing a rise in popularity, while destinations in Spain and Greece, including Athens, are losing ground after initial post-pandemic demand.

Specifically, according to available data, arrivals from the Polish market have significantly increased during the first quarter of 2024 compared to the corresponding period in 2023.