In the South Aegean and Crete 50% of tourism receipts in 2017 | Greek economy

One of the four euros that foreign tourists leave in Greece goes to the islands of the South Aegean. If it is added to Crete, about 50% of the annual tourist expenditure is made in two southern islands

This is evidenced by the statistical treatment carried out by the Institute of the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises. (INSEE) for 2017 the Bank of Greece. According to INSEET, last year, foreign tourists left the southern Aegean islands for 3.65 billion euros and in Crete 3.26 billion euros. In these two regions, 48.6% of annual tourist spending took place last year, or 14.2 billion euros across the country. It should be noted that tourism spending in Attica has exceeded 2.0 billion euros.

On the other hand, the number of visits, overnight stays and spending was lower last year by foreign tourists in the West. Macedonia The latter in 2017 had tourist receipts of 45 million euros or only 0.3% of the total tourist spending. Most foreign tourist visits are made in Central Macedonia. This is explained by the proximity of many Balkan countries and the frequent visits of neighboring states (FYROM, Bulgaria, Turkey, etc.) to both our co-leader and to Chalkidiki, which is considered a tourist destination. important. According to INSEET, last year Central Macedonia accounted for 13% of total revenue, 19.4% of total overnight stays and 23.4% of visits. The second region, based on the number of foreign tourist visits, was the southern Aegean, which received 19% of total visits

Every tourist who visited our country last year had on average 6 , 8 nights and spent 458 euros or 68 euros per year overnight. Its average length of stay increased slightly (+ 0.8%) compared to 2016, while its expenditure was relatively higher (+ 1.9%), spending per charge increasing (+ 1.1%). The largest percentage increases in the number of overnight stays and spending of foreign tourists are recorded in the Peloponnese, South Aegean and Attica. In the Peloponnese, spending per visit increased by 10.2%, average length of stay was 5.5% and spending per night was 4.9%. To this end, Costa Navarino is considered to have made a decisive contribution, making Kalamata an international destination

. In contrast, Central Macedonia is the region that declined in the three specific indicators, from 1.5% to 3% 4%. Most of the tourists who visited our country were Germans (3.7 million), who made 4.09 million visits. Each of them spent 624 euros or about 68 euros per night at each visit. These amounts are close to or above the country average. It is worth mentioning that the Germans are among the top three foreign visitors in eight regions of the country, while their main destination is Crete (31.7% of visits), the islands of the South Aegean (22, 3%) and K. Macedonia (19.2%). German tourists also come for several days to our country, since the average duration of each visit is 9.2 days. However, the average length of the visit is lower than in 2016.

The second nationality of visitors to our country are the British, who generally prefer the Ionian Islands (27.9% of visits), the South of the Sea Aegean (22%) and Crete (21.9%). The French are the following, with a preference for the South Aegean (32.3%), Crete (31.3%) and Attica (20.3%).