Record tourism revenue in year’s first half

First-half revenue from tourism broke new records, making it likelier that the figure for the whole year will exceed €20 billion, eclipsing the record revenue of €18.17 billion reached in 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to preliminary data published by the Bank of Greece, first-half revenue reached €6.174 billion, 14.1% higher than during the same period in 2019 (€5.41 billion) and 24% higher than 2022 (€4.98 billion).

In June alone, revenue was €2.93 billion, also an all-time high, compared to €2.50 billion in June 2022 (+17.2%) and €2.55 billion in June 2019 (+14.9%). And this despite the fact that some destinations, mainly in the Cyclades islands, reported relatively low occupancy rates and the month itself was rather cool and rainy.

A large part of the increase in revenue is the result of inflation, as hotels raised their prices...