Fast recovery after the pandemic, tourism shows a 97% increase compared to 2021.
According to Visa’s analysis of Mediterranean tourism, most visitors in 2023 came to Greece from the United Kingdom, representing 13% of the total, while the country of origin with the most significant increase was Turkey , which saw a 163% increase.
Tourism: Crete and Naxos are among the top summer destinations for the Spanish
The tourism
The US followed in 2nd place, recording a 23% year-on-year increase. Compared to 2019, the growth of visitors from the US increased by 56%.
Using 2019 as a benchmark, although the UK is consistently at the top of the visitor chart, the number of visitors from less visited countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Romania and Ireland has increased significantly.
For some countries, such as Switzerland, the increase in spending is equal to visitors, but in other cases, such as Romania and Germany, spending is higher than the increase in visitors, highlighting that the average spending per guest is strengthened.
The guests
More than half of the visitors in 2023 (54%) did not visit Greece or other Mediterranean destinations in 2022, while 2 in 10 returned to the country in 2023.
“Long-term visitors”, ie those who make transactions with foreign cards in Greece for more than 30 days, make 15% of the total cost of the country. Of these, 17% were visitors from the USA, followed by those from Cyprus with 14% and those from the United Kingdom with 12%.
Dining and nightlife will be the highest spending category in Greece in 2023 with accommodation and supermarket shopping following the next positions. More specifically, restaurants, bars and nightclubs collected 22%, hotels and accommodation 19%, and supermarkets 7%.
The city with the highest card costs
In 2023, Athens leads all Greek cities in the use of cards with 67%. Among the islands, Santorini tops the list with 57%, followed by Rhodes and Chania.
Athens accounts for a fifth of all spending in the country, with all destinations showing an increase, except for Mykonos.
Back to digital payments
72% of transactions with foreign cards in Greece in 2023 were made at the point of sale compared to 84% in the rest of the Mediterranean countries, with more than half contactless, while 28% were ATM withdrawal.
Mediterranean tourism on Visa
The Visa Mediterranean tourism survey was conducted by Visa Consulting and Analytics using data from the Visa network.
The analysis relates to trends after the Covid-19 pandemic and uses data
from 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The analysis covers face-to-face transactions made in Greece with Visa cards issued abroad. The term “visitors” refers to the number of unique foreign Visa cards with which transactions were made in Greece during the analysis period. The reference countries used in the research are Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Cyprus, Malta and Croatia.
The Minister of Tourism, Olga Kefalogianni, said: “The Ministry of Tourism opens a new cycle of development with an emphasis on the quality characteristics of tourism in Greece. A fundamental condition of this direction is to get the real image and trends of the tourist market. The cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism with Visa aims to record and synthesize all the information about the Greek tourism market and its competitive environment, which contribute to the formation of dynamic policies to face the major challenges for Tourism in Greece”.
Sevi Vassileva, General Manager of Visa for Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Israel, commented: “Visa’s analysis of tourism in the Mediterranean provides important information to the Government of Greece and the Ministry of Tourism, which helps to create and implementing strategies to improve the visitor experience. It is important not only to attract more tourists to Greece but also to improve their experience to meet the demands and expectations of modern travelers.”
“Tourism is an important pillar of the Greek economy and Visa is ready to help the Greek Authorities and businesses to maximize the benefits offered by digital payments. We believe that by ensuring that tourists can pay to be safe and comfortable, like in their own countries, at every point of their journey – from the airport, to the bus (such as the tap-to-ride that was recently introduced on the Athens International Airport bus routes ), the restaurant or the
beach – it’s a must.”