Greece recorded more than 150 million overnight stays in 2025, ranking fifth in the European Union, whilst almost one in five workers in the country is employed within the wider tourism sector. Behind this strong performance, however, the new report by the European Commission highlights the marked seasonality of Greek tourism, the absolute dominance of road transport and the significant gap between the Greek railways and the European average.
The data is included in the fourth edition of the report “Transport and Tourism in the European Union – Current trends and issues”, published by the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport of the European Commission.
The report examines the competitiveness, sustainability, connectivity and safety of European transport, and includes separate fact sheets for each Member State and a special section on developments in tourism.
Greece in the EU on Thursday in terms of overnight stays
2025 was a record year for tourism in the European Union, as overnight stays in tourist accommodation exceeded 3 billion.
Greece ranked fifth among the 27 Member States, with more than 150 million overnight stays. It was followed by Spain, Italy, France and Germany.
The four largest markets together accounted for over 60% overnight stays in the EU, reflecting the high concentration of European tourism activity in a limited number of countries.
Tourism also has a particularly significant impact on employment in Greece. According to the relevant indicator in the 2024 report, the tourism sector accounts for approximately 18% of employment in Greece.
This is the second-highest rate in the European Union, after Malta, whilst the corresponding indicator for the EU stands at around 9%.
At European level, and based on the industrial ecosystems methodology, tourism supports around 20.7 million jobs, accounting for 10.4% of total employment. The sector’s economic contribution is estimated at up to €857.3 billion, or 7.8% of the EU’s gross value added.
In countries with the highest degree of seasonality
Greece’s strong position is matched by one of the highest performances in the tourism seasonality index.
For 2024, the relevant index in Greece is approximately 57%, compared with approximately 42% across the European Union as a whole. The country is in the third highest position, after Croatia and Bulgaria.
The report highlights that European tourism is facing challenges such as uneven tourist flows, varying levels of dependence on the sector across different regions, its environmental impact, pressure on infrastructure, and shortages of workers and skills.
In this context, the European Commission is working on the new EU Strategy for Sustainable Tourism. The aim is to create a competitive, sustainable and inclusive model that will contribute to Europe’s environmental goals, support local communities and strengthen the sector’s resilience to future crises.
Athens and Piraeus are the main entry points
The dependence of Greek tourism on air and sea links is reflected in the data for the country’s largest transport hubs.
In 2024, Greek airports handled a total of 79.716 million passengers. Of these, 31.723 million passed through Athens International Airport, which accounted for 40% of the country’s airport passenger traffic and approximately 2% of the EU total.
Athens airport accounted for an even larger share of air cargo traffic. Of the total 126,700 tonnes handled at Greek airports, 119,800 tonnes, or 94%, passed through Athens.
In maritime transport, Piraeus handled approximately 10.013 million passengers in 2024, accounting for 12% of the nearly 80.994 million passengers who used Greek ports in total. Traffic in Piraeus amounted to 2.5% of all passengers at European ports.
At the same time, 43.694 million tonnes of goods were handled through the port of Piraeus, a volume representing 25% of Greece’s total maritime cargo and 1.3% of the EU’s total.
The car dominates passenger travel, whilst the railway lags behind
In land passenger transport, the car remains the dominant mode of transport in Greece, accounting for 83.8% of passenger-kilometres in 2023, compared with 82% in the European Union.
The use of buses and coaches is also particularly high, corresponding to 14.5% of travel in Greece, almost double the EU’s 8.2%.
In contrast, railways cover only 0.5% of land passenger travel in the country, when the European average stands at 8.4%. Trams and the metro account for 1.2% in Greece, compared with 1.4% in the EU.
Almost all land freight is transported by road
The reliance on the road network in land freight transport is even greater. 98.7% of tonne-kilometres in Greece are carried by road, compared with 75% in the European Union. Railways account for just 1.1%, whereas in the EU they account for 16.4%.
Pipelines account for only 0.2% of land freight transport in Greece, compared with 3.8% in the EU, whilst inland waterways account for none at all. The data reflects the almost complete reliance of Greek freight transport on lorries, in contrast to other Member States which have more diversified networks.
Greek rail traffic accounts for 0.2% of the EU’s total
Total railway activity in Greece amounted to 6.6 million train-kilometres in 2023, a figure that represents just 0.2% of the European Union total.
92% of Greek rail traffic consisted of passenger services and 8% of freight, compared with 81.4% and 18.5% respectively in the EU.
41% of the Greek railway network was electrified, compared with a European average of 57%.
The report also shows that 90% of spending on Greek rail infrastructure in 2022 was allocated to upgrades and new investments, whilst the remaining 10% was spent on maintenance. The total amount of such spending in Greece amounted to approximately 100 million euros.
More than 37 hours lost in traffic
Drivers in Greece lost an average of 37.8 hours of delays during peak hours in 2023, compared with 28.6 hours across the EU as a whole.
This figure is significantly lower than that for Malta, where 83.9 hours of delay were recorded, but considerably higher than that for Estonia, which had the lowest figure at 17.3 hours.
The road safety situation also remains a cause for concern. According to the available data for 2022, Greece recorded 61 road traffic fatalities per million inhabitants, the fifth highest figure in the EU.
At the same time, it was ranked ninth highest in terms of deaths per passenger kilometre, with 55 deaths per 10 billion passenger kilometres. The report notes, however, that during the period 2012–2021, the reduction in the number of fatalities in Greece was greater than the EU average.
Exceeding the charger power target
The picture is more positive when it comes to electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The total power capacity of publicly accessible charging stations in Greece reached 272,905 kW, whilst the target set out in the European Regulation on Alternative Fuels Infrastructure is estimated at 70,719 kW.
The available power therefore exceeds this specific target, although the proportion of purely electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the total Greek fleet remains lower than the European average.
Overall, the report paints a picture of Greece as a country with a particularly strong presence in the tourism and maritime sectors, but one that also faces significant challenges in land transport, rail connectivity, traffic congestion and road safety.
Source: tornosnews.gr