Greece Tourism Statistics 2026: Key Facts & Trends

Last reviewed 7 September 2026. Every figure on this page was checked against the source named next to it; where two official series disagree, the difference is stated.

Greece has just recorded its best tourism year on record. In 2025 the country welcomed 37.98 million international visitors — up 5.6% on 2024 and the third consecutive annual record; travel receipts, however, grew faster still, climbing 9.4% to €23.6 billion, according to Bank of Greece balance-of-travel data. Tourism is now the backbone of the Greek economy: INSETE, the research institute of the Greek Tourism Confederation, puts its direct contribution at €32.4 billion in 2025, or 13% of GDP, rising to as much as 34.6% once indirect effects are counted. The figures below come from the Bank of Greece, INSETE, Eurostat and airport operators, and are the latest available as of September 2026 — including first-half 2026 data showing arrivals up 15.4% and receipts up 14.8%.

Key Greece tourism statistics

37.98 million international arrivals in 2025 (excluding cruise passengers), up 5.6% on 2024 — a third straight record year (Bank of Greece).
Travel receipts reached €23.6 billion in 2025, up 9.4%, with the travel balance surplus widening to €20.25 billion.
In January–June 2026 arrivals rose 15.4% to 13.49 million and receipts 14.8% to €8.80 billion, although June's growth slowed to +6.9% and +1.2% respectively (Bank of Greece).
Tourism contributed €32.4 billion directly to GDP in 2025 (13%), up 7.3% on 2024, and between 28.7% and 34.6% of GDP including indirect effects (INSETE).
Germany was the largest source market in 2025 with 5.95 million arrivals; the UK followed with 4.89 million and receipts of €3.74 billion, up 18.5%.
Athens International Airport handled a record 34 million passengers in 2025, up 6.7% year on year.
41.6% of Greece's tourism overnight stays in 2025 fell in July and August — the third most seasonal market in the EU (Eurostat).
Since 21 July 2025, cruise passengers disembarking at Santorini and Mykonos in peak season pay a €20 levy per person, and Santorini now caps cruise arrivals at 8,000 passengers a day.

Record international arrivals

Column chart showing international visitor arrivals to Greece rising from 32.7 million in 2023 to 36.0 million in 2024 and a record 38.0 million in 2025 — International visitor arrivals to Greece, 2023–2025 (excluding cruise passengers). Source: Bank of Greece balance of travel services data, via GTP Headlines.

Inbound arrivals reached 37.98 million in 2025, up 5.6% from 35.95 million in 2024, according to Bank of Greece data reported by GTP Headlines. The provisional figures exclude cruise passengers.
2024 was itself a record: arrivals rose 9.8% to 35.95 million, from 32.73 million in 2023, per the INSETE Statistical Bulletin No. 100.
Greece's 2024 arrivals stood at 106% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels, outperforming the global recovery rate of 99% (UNWTO data via INSETE).
Including cruise visitors, total arrivals reached roughly 40.7 million in 2024, up 12.8% year on year (INSETE).
Growth in 2025 was driven by long-haul demand: non-EU arrivals rose 10% against 2.8% growth from the EU.
The season is stretching: December 2025 arrivals jumped 49% year on year to 1.31 million.
2026 has started faster still: 13.49 million visitors arrived in the first half of 2026, up 15.4%, with June alone bringing 4.92 million (+6.9%) — but average spend per trip slipped 6.2% in June, so revenue is now growing more slowly than volume (Bank of Greece data via Euronews).

Travel receipts and the visitor economy

Travel receipts hit €23.6 billion in 2025, up 9.4% — revenue grew at nearly double the pace of arrivals, helped by a 3.8% rise in average spend per trip (Bank of Greece).
The travel services surplus widened to €20.25 billion in 2025, from €18.79 billion in 2024.
Receipts reached €8.80 billion in January–June 2026, up 14.8% on the same period of 2025, and the half-year travel surplus rose to €6.93 billion from €6.01 billion; UK receipts grew 8.5% to €1.18 billion and US receipts 10.8% to €797 million, while German receipts fell 6.3% to €1.28 billion despite more German visitors (Bank of Greece, via Euronews).
In 2024 receipts were €21.7 billion (up 5.4%), though average per-capita spend slipped 5.1% to €573, from €603 in 2023 (INSETE). The 2025 rebound in spend per trip signals a shift towards higher-value tourism — a trend we track in our luxury travel statistics.
Tourism's direct contribution to the economy rose 7.3% to €32.4 billion in 2025 — 13% of GDP — and to between €71.3 billion and €85.9 billion (28.7% to 34.6% of GDP) with indirect effects, per INSETE research published in May 2026; the 2024 figures were €30.2 billion directly and up to 33.7% in total (INSETE).
The sector directly employed 400,250 people on average in 2025 (flat on 2024's 401,000), with a record 475,167 employees in the third-quarter peak; counting supported jobs, tourism accounted for up to 750,659 jobs — 17% of total Greek employment — at the height of the 2025 season, up from 713,140 (16.5%) in 2024 (INSETE).
Tourism spreads wealth beyond the capital: 74% of inbound revenue was generated outside Attica in 2025, led by the South Aegean (29%), Crete (19%) and the Ionian Islands (8%); in 2024 the share outside Attica was 77% (INSETE).

Source markets: Germany and the UK lead

Horizontal bar chart of Greece's 2024 travel receipts by source market: Germany €3.7 billion, United Kingdom €3.2 billion, United States €1.6 billion, France €1.3 billion, Italy €1.2 billion — Travel receipts by source market in 2024. Source: Bank of Greece data compiled in INSETE Statistical Bulletin No. 100.

Germany remained the top market in 2025 with 5.95 million arrivals (up 10.2%) and receipts of €3.78 billion (Bank of Greece via GTP).
The United Kingdom is closing the gap fast: 4.89 million arrivals (up 7.6%) and receipts of €3.74 billion, up 18.5% — the strongest growth of any major market in 2025.
The United States delivered €1.72 billion in receipts in 2025 (up 8.5%) from 1.55 million visitors — the highest spend per head among the top markets.
In 2024 the full ranking by receipts was Germany (€3.70bn), UK (€3.17bn), US (€1.58bn), France (€1.26bn) and Italy (€1.23bn), per the INSETE bulletin.
The Russian market has effectively vanished: just 16,100 arrivals in 2024, down 54.9% year on year.
Greece's growth contrasts with slower expansion in rival Mediterranean destinations — see our Spain tourism statistics and France tourism statistics for comparison.

Airports and gateways

Greek airports handled 26.0 million international air arrivals in 2024, up 8.1% on 2023 (HCAA/AIA data via INSETE).
Athens International Airport set an all-time record of 34 million passengers in 2025, up 6.7% from 31.8 million in 2024, with 283,589 flights and traffic running 33% above 2019 levels (Tornos News). A €1.3 billion expansion will lift capacity towards 40 million passengers.
Athens took 30.4% of international air arrivals in 2024, ahead of Heraklion (14.6%), Rhodes (11.5%), Thessaloniki (9.4%) and Corfu (7.5%).
Athens airport handled 15.75 million passengers in the first half of 2026, up 4.5%, on 132,933 flights (+3.9%); June 2026 traffic grew a more modest 1.7% to 3.51 million (GTP Headlines).
Crete received 5.3 million international air arrivals in 2024 (up 6.6%), while the Dodecanese grew fastest among island regions at +10.3% to 4.4 million.
Santorini Airport recorded 756,000 international arrivals (up 1.8%), while Mykonos slipped 4.2% to 523,000 — the only major island airport to decline.

Seasonality: a heavily peaked market

Column chart of monthly international air arrivals to Greece in 2024, ranging from 462,000 in February to a July peak of 4.6 million — Monthly international air arrivals to Greece in 2024, showing the strong summer peak. Source: HCAA and Athens International Airport data, INSETE Statistical Bulletin No. 100.

41.6% of Greece's tourism overnight stays in 2025 were concentrated in July and August — the third most seasonal market in the EU, behind Croatia (54.5%) and Bulgaria (43.4%), per Eurostat data reported by GTP.
August overnight stays ran 20.5 times higher than January's (Eurostat).
July 2024 was the peak month for air travel with 4.6 million international arrivals, against just 485,000 in January (INSETE).
The shoulders are growing fastest: first-quarter 2024 air arrivals rose 18.7% and the fourth quarter 9.5%, versus 6.6% in the third-quarter peak — evidence of a deliberate season-stretching strategy.

Overtourism and the 2025 cruise levy

Since 21 July 2025 — the launch was pushed back from 1 July after spring seismic activity dented Santorini bookings — Greece has charged cruise passengers a disembarkation fee of €20 per person at Santorini and Mykonos during peak season (1 June–30 September), under Law 5162/2024 (GTP Headlines).
The two islands' fee drops to €12 in shoulder season (April, May, October) and €4 in low season; all other Greek ports charge €5, €3 and €1 respectively.
The pressure is real: Santorini received 1.34 million cruise passengers in 2024 (up 4%) and Mykonos 1.29 million (up 8.4%).
For the 2026 season Santorini's municipality, following a joint study with the University of the Aegean, is enforcing a ceiling of 8,000 cruise passengers a day and spreading ship calls across the week to avoid the mass congestion of earlier years (Athens Times).
Cruise travel receipts jumped 31.2% to €1.1 billion in 2024, on top of €20.6 billion in non-cruise receipts (INSETE).
Levy proceeds are split in equal thirds between local municipalities, the Maritime Ministry and the Tourism Ministry, earmarked for port infrastructure and sustainable tourism projects.

Sources

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Greece Tourism Statistics 2026: Arrivals, Revenue & Trends