According to ELSTAT, Greece’s statistical authority, in December 2023, tourist accommodation arrivals in the country amounted to 883,828, while overnight stays reached 2,033,355, marking an increase compared to the same month of 2022, by 6.2% and 5.0%, respectively.
Compared to the same month of 2022, December 2023 witnessed an uptick in arrivals and overnight stays of foreign visitors by 1.3% and 2.1%, respectively, as well as an increase in the arrivals and overnight stays of domestic visitors by 8.5% and 6.5%.
In total accommodations, domestic visitors recorded a higher contribution to arrivals and overnight, with 70.0% and 66.3%, respectively. The average total overnight stay for December 2023 was 2.3 days.
The record-breaking performance of the Greek tourism sector in 2023 is reflected in the Bank of Greece (BoG) provisional data published, as 32.73 million tourists visited Greece, compared to 31.34 million in 2019.
As the BoG figures revealed, the travel balance in December 2023 recorded a surplus of 114.9 million euros, compared to 66.8 million euros in the same month of 2022.
Travel receipts were up by 41.5% in December 2023, amounting to 344.2 million euros, compared to 243.1 million euros in the same month of 2022, while a rise of 30.0% was also observed in travel payments (December 2023: 229.2 million euros, December 2022: 176.3 million euros).
The increase in travel receipts is due to the increase in inbound travel by 32.0%, as well as the average expenditure per trip by 6.3%. Net receipts from the provision of travel services contributed by 26.4% to the total net receipts from services and offset by 4.2% of the deficit of the goods balance.
