Greece is among the most popular destinations in the EU, ranking 8th regarding short-stay accommodations booked via online platforms – Airbnb, Booking, Expedia Group, or TripAdvisor – in 2023, according to the EU statistical services Eurostat.
The leading countries in order are France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland, and Portugal.
The number of overnight stays by visitors in all eight countries has increased compared to 2023, and all exceed their pre-pandemic levels by a significant margin.
The increase in bookings through short-term rental platforms in Greece rose by 31.5% in the first quarter of 2024.
The data revealed that overnight stays in short-term rental accommodations in the EU increased by 28.3% with bookings made through four platforms — Airbnb, Booking, Expedia Group, or TripAdvisor—in the first quarter of 2024, surpassing 123.7 million.
In January 2024, 33.3 million overnight stays were made in accommodations booked through online platforms, marking a 16.7% increase compared to January 2023.
February recorded 41.2 million overnight stays via platforms (+19.0% compared to February 2023), and in March, the number was 49.2 million (a sharp increase of +48.0%).
Andalusia in Spain (35.6 million overnight stays), Jadranska Hrvatska in Croatia (32.6 million), and the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (24.9 million) were the most popular regions for short-term rental accommodations booked through online platforms in 2023.
Meanwhile, according to INSETE, short-term accommodations are increasingly dominating the Greek market, as by June, the number of these properties had surged to 224,860, and the total bed count approached 1 million. Despite this growth, the oversupply has resulted in lower occupancy rates, which have fluctuated from just 12% in January to 40% by June.