A total of 40.7 million tourists generated 21.6 billion euros in tourism-related revenues for Greece in 2024, according to final data released by the Bank of Greece (BoG) reflecting the country’s continued dominance as a top global destination.
More specifically, the number of inbound travelers last year increased by 12.8% to 40.69 million up from 36 million in 2023.
In the same year, travel receipts rose by 4.8% over 2023 reaching 21.59 billion euros. The increase was supported by a 7.1% rise in spending by EU residents, which accounted for 55.4% of total travel receipts.
Commenting on recent developments during her visit to the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday, Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni underlined the sector’s decisive contribution to Greece’s growth, highlighting a historic record achieved in 2024. She made special mention to the significant increase in tourist arrivals and revenue marked beyond the popular peak summer season; an outcome, which she said, underscores the success of the ministry’s strategy to extend the tourist season.
Cruise tourism emerged as a major contributor in 2024, generating 1.11 billion euros, a 22.4% increase over 2023 and demonstrating the growing interest in Greece as an attractive cruise travel destination. Last year, a total of 5,308 cruise ships made port calls in Greece up from 5,152 in 2023 transporting a total of 5 million passengers (+43.8% y-o-y).
According to the central bank’s data, the port of Piraeus accounted for 48.5% of total cruise travel receipts, followed by the ports of Corfu (11.8%) and Heraklion on Crete (8.0%.) In terms of cruise ship arrivals, Piraeus ranked first with a share of 15.3% followed by ports of Mykonos (14.5%) and Santorini (14.1%).
Greek island of Skiathos. Photo: Skiathos Municipality
According to the same data, the number of overnight stays by non-residents in Greece in 2024 grew by 1.9% reaching 240,816.6 thousand up from 236,271.2 thousand in 2023.
Attracting the largest number of tourists in 2024 was the region of Attica, which includes Athens, while the South Aegean Region, which includes popular islands like Rhodes, Milos and Santorini accounted for the largest share of total travel receipts and overnight stays.
Τhe five most popular regional destinations last year, accounting for 83.3% of total visits to Greece, were: Attica, the South Aegean (7,563.5 thousand), Central Macedonia, Crete, and the Ionian Islands.
The top source markets driving tourism revenue for Greece in 2024, were Germany with receipts up by 3.7%, Italy (+13.6%), and the US (+15.3%).
On the downside, receipts by travelers from the UK, France, and Russia dropped in 2024 by 4.1%, 11.6%, and 51.5%, respectively.
According to the BoG report, trips for personal reasons accounted for 93.5% of all activity in 2024 and under this category, leisure accounted for the largest share in total travel receipts at 87.1%, with the corresponding receipts rising by 3.9% year-on-year to 18,803.3 million euros.
