Forty million arrivals in 2028

Greece is projected to score new highs in tourism arrivals in 2024 and the coming years, attracting visitors from new markets and consolidating its position on the global map, international and domestic analysts estimate.

However, they warn of the challenges of hypertourism, while underlining, among other things, the need for infrastructure projects within the context of the Recovery Fund, the importance of green investments and upgrading the skills of workers in the tourism sector.

According to Fitch Solutions, tourism in Greece is expected to record consecutive records in the medium term, with arrivals reaching 40 million, while the country is expected to establish itself as one of the most attractive tourist destinations internationally.

This year Fitch expects Greece’s tourism sector to gain further ground after fully recovering to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. It estimates that arrivals this year will increase by 5.3% year-on-year to 34.5 million, reaching 104.4% of the 2019 level (31.3 million), and against 32.7 million tourists in 2023, when arrivals had fully returned to pre-Covid levels.

In the medium term and through 2028, Fitch Solutions predicts arrivals will continue to expand, supported by increased flows from traditional and new markets. In particular, Fitch predicts that arrivals will reach 39.3 million by 2028, with an average growth rate of 3.7% per year during that period.

However, Fitch Solutions points out that attention must be paid to hypertourism, as it is both an invitation and a risk to Greece’s ability to provide tourism services amid increasing arrival volumes. This can also lead to poor maintenance of popular tourist attractions and infrastructure.

For its part, Alpha Bank points out that the prospects for Greece’s tourism this year are particularly favorable despite the pressures on external demand, due to high – albeit slowing – inflation in Europe and geopolitical tensions in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Red Sea.