In the top ten countries in the world, and especially in ninth place, Greece appears for the first time in its history in 2023 according to the World Tourism Barometer of the World Tourism Organization. The pandemic caused many changes in the relative ranking of countries and given the immediate recovery of our country to a level higher than in 2019, it took Greece from the 13th place in the world list that year to on the ninth of 2023.
Greece has passed Austria but also countries such as China, Japan and Thailand leading in 2019.
The tourism
In particular, in 2019, our country is in 13th place with 31.3 million tourists, while in twelfth place is Japan with 31.9 million tourists, in eleventh Austria with 31.9 million also, in eighth place in Thailand with 39, 9 million and in fourth China with 65.7 million.
Japan, Thailand and China have not yet recovered from the pandemic, while Austria reached 30.9 million arrivals in 2023. However, Greece with 32.7 million arrivals is in ninth place in 2023.
France, Spain, the United States, Italy, Turkey, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Germany occupy the top eight positions in the world ranking in 2023. It should also be noted the impressive rise of the United Arab Emirates, which from 19th place in 2019 to 12th in 2023, and Saudi Arabia (from 25th place to 14th in four years. Portugal remains strong in 15th place in the world ranking.
In third place in Europe in 2024
Meanwhile, in the first two quarters of 2024, tourism activity in Europe largely follows the same trend. International travel increased across the continent compared to last year, with arrivals abroad up 12% and overnight stays up 10% based on data from European destinations reporting, according to EUROPEAN TOURISM: TRENDS survey, Q2/2024″ in “. European Travel Commission”.
In the first positions of the countries that show the largest number of arrivals in Europe in the first half of the year, compared to the corresponding period last year, but also in 2019, is Greece.
Notable increases in international tourist arrivals, compared to 2019 levels, were recorded in lesser-known destinations such as Serbia (+40%) and Bulgaria (+29%), as well as perennial favorites such as Malta (+37%) , Portugal (+26%), Turkey (+22%) and Greece (20.4%). The Nordic countries also show growing appeal, with overnight stays by foreigners increasing in Denmark (+38%), Norway (+18%) and Sweden (+9%). This shows increasing success outside of Southern Europe and in relatively more expensive destinations.
In contrast, the Baltic region continues to struggle, with Latvia (-24%), Estonia (-16%) and Lithuania (-15%) still showing international arrivals below 2019.
Compared to the corresponding period in 2023, Greece is in third place in terms of the increase in international tourist arrivals, with an increase of 24.4%, followed by Malta (+31.3%) and Norway (+28%).
Meanwhile, at the same time, it is also placed among the countries with the most significant increase in future spending from the beginning of the year to date, which is in second place, with an increase of 25%, with Spain first ( 25%). , Italy third (20%) and France fourth (16%).
Also notable in 2024 is the increase in international air arrivals in Albania (+86%), Serbia (+48%) and Montenegro (+31%), and the contribution of Chinese (+9%) and Americans (+8%) ) to increase the flow of tourists to Europe.