Athens – Out of an official annual report out of Greece, has seen one of it best comebacks in tourism over 4 years, since the migration crisis began back in 2015. The tourism industry grew with about 10.6 percent in 2018.
“2018 was the best year in performance in the history of Greek tourism, international arrivals reached 33 million including the cruise and revenue exceeded every precedent.” The large increase in tourist traffic led to a sharp rise in purely tourist revenue, which for the first time have surpassed 16 billion euros and more than double the revenue for the economy from the increase in transport, shopping and domestic tourism, estimated to total in excess of 21 billion euros in 2018. ” This is highlighted in a communiqué from the Ministry of Tourism, which presents in full the course of Greek tourism in 2018 as confirmed by all the official sources (ELSTAT, CAA, FRAPORT, AIA, EASP, TEF, ERGANI). Specifically:
1. International tourist traffic grew by 10.6% in the 11-month period January-November 2018, when it first touched 29.5 million visitors. (Source: BT – Border Survey).
2. A similar increase of 9.7% recorded net tourist revenues in the 11-month period of January-November 2018 compared to the corresponding period of 2017, which for the first time reached 16 billion euros for the specific period of the year (Source: – Border Research).
3. An increase of 12.9% was recorded in total in 2018 and international aviation over the same period last year (2017 – 18.3 million, 2018 – 20.7 million). For the first time in the history of Greek tourism, international aviation arrivals exceeded 20 million. More than 2.4 million additional foreign tourists visited Greek destinations by air (Source: FRAPORT, AIA, CAA).
4. An increase of 19.4% was recorded in the international arrivals at Athens International Airport in 2018 compared to 2017. (2017 – 4.7 million, 2018 – 5.7 million). Almost 1 million more foreign visitors traveled to Greece via Athens in 2018 compared to 2017. (Source: AIA, CAA).
5. All destinations were moved. The highest increase is recorded in the airports of Mytilene (43.1%) and Anhialos (37.1%), followed by the airports of Mykonos (24.8), Kavala (23.3%), Kefalonia %) and Samos (21.7%). Approximately 1.5 million additional foreign tourists visited Greek destinations by direct flights from airports abroad (Source: FRAPORT, CAA).
6. A 27.9% increase in tax-free transactions in 2018 compared to 2017 (Source: PLANET).
7. By 12.8%, the collections of museums and archaeological sites increased during the nine-month period from January to September 2018 compared to the corresponding period of 2017 and by 12.6% of total visitors. (Source: ELSTAT).
8. An increase of 10.15% recorded the public revenue from VAT in hotels and accommodation services in June compared to the corresponding month of 2017 and 4% in July. (Source: AADE).
9. Increase in profits by 51.6% of Greek hotels in 2017 based on their 16/11/2018 published balance sheets (Source: New Times Survey).
10. In addition, 288,369 jobs were created in the 9-month period from January to September 2018 due to the exceptional tourism performance this year, the highest performance since 2001 to date. (Source: ERGANI)
11. Construction output in the first half of 2018 rose by 24.4% compared to last year, due to the large increase in tourist traffic, which led to an increase in real estate transactions and the “re-heating” of the housing market faith. (Source: BSE).
12. Increase of 17.8% of the turnover of the wood and furniture market in January-September 2018 compared to the corresponding period last year, for the first time after 8 years of recession due to the large increase in tourist investment. (Source: ELSTAT).
13 Increase in construction activity in the period September 2017 – August 2018 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year (2016-2017). Specifically, the construction volume increased by 19.1%, by 18.7% of the surface area of the buildings and by 8.5% in the number of permits in the whole country due to investments in new tourist infrastructure. (Source: NSSG)
14. Turnover in the activities of travel agencies, travel agencies, reservation services and related activities in the second quarter of 2018 increased (16.6%) compared to the corresponding period of 2017. (Source: ELSTAT)
15. The average price per room of Athens hotels recorded an 8.5% increase in the January-August 2018 period compared to the same period in 2017 and 2.2% completeness. (Source: EXAA, GBR)
