Press Releases

Developments in the balance of travel services: 2024

08/05/2025 - Press Releases

- The balance of travel services posted a surplus of €18,787.0 million in 2024.

- Travel receipts increased by 4.8% year-on-year.

- Inbound traveller flows grew by 12.8% compared with 2023.

- Overnight stays increased by 1.9% year-on-year.

- Total receipts from cruise passengers rose by 22.4% compared with 2023.

- Attica was the most visited region in 2024, while the Southern Aegean region accounted for the largest share of both total receipts and overnight stays.

Balance of travel services

Based on final data, the balance of travel services in 2024 posted a surplus of €18,787.0 million, up by 3.4% from a surplus of €18,162.0 million in 2023 (Chart 1). This development was due to a larger increase in travel receipts (up by €998.7 million or 4.8%) than in travel payments (up by €373.6 million or 15.4%). The year-on-year rise in travel receipts was driven by a 12.8% increase in the number of non-resident inbound travellers (Table 1), as well as by a rise in average expenditure per overnight stay by €2.5 or 2.9% (2024: €89.7, 2023: €87.2).

In greater detail, average expenditure per trip declined by 7.0% (2024: €530.6, 2023: €570.7) and the average length of stay fell by 9.6% to 5.9 overnight stays (2023: 6.5 overnight stays). Total overnight stays (Table 5) increased by 1.9% to 240,816.6 thousand in 2024, from 236,271.2 thousand in 2023.

Travel receipts

Travel receipts in 2024 totalled €21,592.3 million, up by 4.8% compared with 2023. This development was driven by a 7.1% increase in receipts from residents of the EU27 countries, which came to €11,966.1 million, or 55.4% of total travel receipts, and by a 0.6% rise in receipts from residents of other countries to €8,625.6 million (Table 2 and Chart 2).

In more detail, receipts from euro area residents increased by 4.5% year-on-year to €9,474.3 million in 2024, while receipts from residents of non-euro area EU27 countries increased by 18.4% to €2,491.8 million.

Among major countries of origin, receipts from Germany rose by 3.7% to €3,702.0 million, while receipts from France fell by 11.6% to €1,259.6 million. Receipts from Italy increased by 13.6% to €1,225.5 million. Turning to other countries, receipts from the United States rose by 15.3% to €1,583.8 million, whereas receipts from the United Kingdom dropped by 4.1% to €3,159.8 million. Finally, receipts from Russia also decreased, by 51.5% to €15.7 million.

Travel receipts by trip purpose

Looking at the breakdown of non-residents’ expenditure in Greece by trip purpose (Table 3 and Chart 3), trips for personal reasons represented the bulk of total travel receipts in 2024, with a share of 93.5%, down from 94.7% in 2023, while the corresponding receipts increased by 3.6%. Within this category, leisure accounted for the largest share in total travel receipts (2024: 87.1%, 2023: 87.9%), with the corresponding receipts rising by 3.9% year-on-year to €18,803.3 million. Receipts from trips for the purpose of visiting family increased by 5.3%, but their share in total travel receipts stood at the same level as in 2023 (4.4%). Receipts from trips for health purposes dropped by 17.2% to €30.6 million. Finally, receipts from business trips rose by 27.3%, increasing their share in total receipts (2024: 6.5%, 2023: 5.3%).

Inbound traveller flows

As already mentioned, the number of inbound travellers in 2024 rose by 12.8% to 40,693.9 thousand, up from 36,082.7 thousand in 2023. Specifically, traveller flows through airports increased by 10.7%, as did traveller flows through road border-crossing points, by 8.9%. Travellers from within the EU27 countries accounted for 53.5% of the total number of travellers, while travellers from other countries accounted for 34.8%.[1] In 2024, travellers from within the EU27 countries increased by 11.0% compared with 2023. This development is attributed to increases in the number of travellers from euro area countries by 12.2% to 14,491.0 thousand and in the number of travellers from non-euro area EU27 countries by 8.6% to 7,304.1 thousand. More specifically, travellers from Germany increased by 13.4% to 5,402.3 thousand and travellers from Italy increased by 10.0% to 2,025.9 thousand. Travellers from France also increased, by 8.8% to 1,992.4 thousand.

Finally, the number of travellers from other countries grew by 8.1% to 14,156.3 thousand. Specifically, the number of travellers from the United States rose by 10.0% to 1,547.4 thousand. Travellers from the United Kingdom decreased by 1.0% to 4,545.5 thousand, while travellers from Russia declined by 54.9% to 16.1 thousand (Table 4 and Chart 4).

Overnight stays[2]

In 2024, non-residents’ overnight stays in Greece totalled 240,816.6 thousand, up by 1.9% from 236,271.2 thousand in 2023. This was driven by a 4.9% increase in overnight stays spent by residents of the EU27 countries, as the number of overnight stays spent by residents of other countries declined by 3.9%. The rise in overnight stays by residents of the EU27 countries reflects a 3.7% increase in overnight stays spent by euro area residents, as well as a 9.6% increase in overnight stays spent by residents of non-euro area EU27 countries. The number of overnight stays increased by 7.4% year-on-year for German residents, whereas it declined by 4.4% for French residents and by 5.7% for Italian residents. Turning to other countries, the number of overnight stays by UK residents dropped by 6.4%, while the number of overnight stays by US residents fell by 1.4%. Finally, overnight stays by Russian residents also decreased, by 69.4% (Table 5 and Chart 5).

Cruises

Since 2012, the Bank of Greece conducts a Cruise Survey in order to enrich the data collected through the Border Survey. Following a standardised methodology,[3] detailed cruise data for 2024 were collected at 16 Greek ports, covering 86.3% of all cruise ship arrivals in Greece.

Total receipts from cruise passengers in 2024 rose by 22.4% year-on-year to €1,112.2 million. Of this amount, €111.5 million were already captured in the Border Survey data, as they represent receipts from last port travellers, eventually leaving the country, while the remaining €1,000.6 million concern additional receipts data recorded by the Cruise Survey (Tables 6 and 7).

Chart 6 shows a breakdown of cruise receipts by port. The port of Piraeus ranks first with a share of 48.5% in total cruise receipts, followed by the port of Corfu with 11.8% and the port of Heraklion with 8.0%.

The year under review saw 5,308 cruise ship arrivals (2023: 5,152). Total overnight stays ashore rose by 31.5% year-on-year to 12,387.5 thousand in 2024, with a positive impact on cruise receipts. The total number of cruise passengers also rose year-on-year, by 43.8% to an estimated 5,011.1 thousand (Table 7Α).

Chart 7 shows a breakdown of cruise ship arrivals by port. The port of Piraeus ranks first with a share of 15.3% in total cruise arrivals, followed by the port of Mykonos with 14.5% and the port of Santorini with 14.1%.

In 2024, the total number of cruise passenger visits rose by 12.4% to 7,826.4 thousand, from 6,964.2 thousand in 2023 (Table 7Β). According to the Cruise Survey, 81.2% of all cruise passengers were transit visitors, with an average of 1.6 stopovers at Greek ports of call. The seven most important cruise ship ports account for 90.5% of total cruise receipts and 82.0% of total cruise passenger visits (Chart 8).

Balance of travel services by region[4]

As shown by the Border Survey, travel receipts in 2024 amounted to €20,591.7 million. Five regions accounted for the bulk (89.7%) of total receipts (Table 8), namely: the Southern Aegean (€5,687.4 million), Attica (€4,750.9 million), Crete (€4,568.7 million), the Ionian Islands (€1,983.6 million) and Central Macedonia (€1,486.0 million). The remaining regions (Epirus, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the Peloponnese, Western Greece, Thessaly, Central Greece, the Northern Aegean and Western Macedonia) together accounted for €2,115.1 million.

Visits to Greece (all 13 regions combined) in 2024 totalled 39,354.9 thousand. The number of visits exceeds the number of inbound travellers estimated by the Border Survey (35,951.4 thousand), as travellers may visit more than one region in the course of one trip.

Τhe five most popular regional destinations, accounting for 83.3% of total visits, were: Attica (8,784.8 thousand visits), the Southern Aegean (7,563.5 thousand), Central Macedonia (7,028.7 thousand), Crete (5,959.0​thousand) and the Ionian Islands (3,432.9 thousand). The remaining regions (Epirus, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Western Greece, Central Greece, the Northern Aegean and Western Macedonia) together accounted for 6,586.0​thousand visits.

The number of overnight stays in Greece in the period under review totalled 231,037.6​thousand. According to the breakdown into the 13 regions, five regions accounted for 87.2% of total overnight stays, namely: the Southern Aegean (51,269.3 thousand overnight stays), Attica (47,817.5 thousand), Crete (46,705.6 thousand), Central Macedonia (31,026.4 thousand) and the Ionian Islands (24,680.8 thousand). The remaining regions (Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Epirus, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, the Northern Aegean, Western Greece, Central Greece and Western Macedonia) together accounted for 29,537.9 thousand overnight stays.

Related link: Detailed and final data on the balance of travel services are published in the Travel services section of the Bank of Greece website.