*By Christina Lainopoulou
The first half of 2026 for Greek tourism closed with more travelers but lower average spending per trip, as the strong increase in inbound traffic more than offset the losses in spending and led travel receipts to an increase of almost 15% compared to last year.
As shown by the Bank of Greece travel balance of payments data for June 2026 – which do not include cruise figures beyond those recorded by the Border Survey – in the first half of the year, travel receipts increased by 14.8% compared to the corresponding period in 2025, reaching 8.79 billion euros.
The increase in receipts, by 1.13 billion euros, was based on the increase in incoming travel traffic by 15.4%, as the average expenditure per trip fell by 0.6%. Travel traffic amounted to 13.49 million travelers.
The discrepancy was even more pronounced in June: travel receipts rose by just 1.2%, to €3.47 billion, despite a 6.9% rise in arrivals, as average spending per trip fell by 6.2%. Travel traffic stood at 4.92 million travelers.
France – Britain – Germany: Double-digit percentage decline in collections in June
However, behind the overall positive picture of receipts, there are significant differences in the most important inbound tourism markets.
In a peak tourist month, June, losses from two traditional European markets were particularly sharp. Receipts from Germany fell by 14.5%, to €515.1 million, while the drop from France was even greater, where receipts fell by 33.9%, to €129.8 million.
The picture from the United Kingdom was also negative in the same month, with receipts falling by 26.1%, to 442.9 million euros.
Losses were smaller in the US market, where revenue decreased by 3.7%, to 257.8 million euros.
In contrast, Italy was the positive exception among the major markets, as receipts in June increased by 34.4%, reaching 248.3 million euros.
Italy, Britain and the US “raised” the semester
The picture differs to a certain extent in the semester.
Germany, although remaining one of the largest markets in absolute terms, saw its receipts fall by 6.3%, to €1.27 billion. Correspondingly, receipts from France fell by 7.4%, to €414.3 million.
In contrast, Italy recorded the strongest growth among these markets, with revenue rising by 31.1%, to 470 million euros.
The United Kingdom also maintained a positive trend throughout the six months, despite a significant drop recorded in June. Receipts from the British market increased by 8.5%, reaching 1.18 billion euros.
The picture from the USA was similarly positive, where travel receipts increased by 10.8%, to 796.9 million euros.
Traffic from the US and France is in the “minus”
In terms of travel traffic, the US and France had losses in both June and the half-year. In particular, June saw increases from Germany (+6%, to 814.6 thousand travelers) and Italy (+21.8%, to 371.7 thousand travelers) and decreases from France (-18.5%, to 218.2 thousand travelers), the UK (-12%, to 713.8 thousand travelers) and the US (-12.1%, to 202.8 thousand travelers).
In the first half of the year, Germany (+10.4%, to 2.04 million travelers), Italy (+17.9%, to 727.8 thousand travelers) and the United Kingdom (+10.4%, to 1.68 million travelers) increased, while a decline was recorded in France (-0.4%, to 607.5 thousand travelers) and the USA (-5.4%, to 656.7 thousand travelers).
Source: tornosnews.gr