Record tourism revenue in year’s first half
First-half revenue from tourism broke new records, making it likelier that the figure for the whole year will exceed €20 billion, eclipsing the record revenue of €18.17 billion reached in 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to preliminary data published by the Bank of Greece, first-half revenue reached €6.174 billion, 14.1% higher than during the same period in 2019 (€5.41 billion) and 24% higher than 2022 (€4.98 billion).
In June alone, revenue was €2.93 billion, also an all-time high, compared to €2.50 billion in June 2022 (+17.2%) and €2.55 billion in June 2019 (+14.9%). And this despite the fact that some destinations, mainly in the Cyclades islands, reported relatively low occupancy rates and the month itself was rather cool and rainy.
A large part of the increase in revenue is the result of inflation, as hotels raised their prices again this year.
The Bank of Greece will publish the July revenue data, where gains are expected to be even higher. Given that the third quarter (July-September) usually accounts for 65% of total annual revenue, comparable revenue gains will push total annual tourism revenue above €20 billion.
This would be no surprise to analysts: a few days ago, the National Bank of Greece published a study that estimated 2023 revenue at €21 billion, up 15.6% on 2019 (€18.17 billion) and 19.1% on 2022 (€17.63 billion). Higher prices have more than compensated for a slight drop in the average stay of visitors.
Germans accounted for 42% of second-quarter arrivals, up from 39% in 2019, and arrivals from the US almost doubled. US visitors also spent more, on average.
