Greek tourism contributed directly to the country’s economy with 23.4 billion euros (+ 10.9% or + 2.3 billion euros compared to 2018) while in total – directly and indirectly – it added between 51.6 billion and 62.1 billion euros. The direct contribution of the sector corresponds to 12.5% ​​of GDP and the total from 27.5% to 33.1%.

The data comes from the latest study by the Institute of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (INSETE) on the contribution of tourism to the Greek economy in 2019.

Equally impressive is the data focusing on employment in the tourism sector, as shown in a separate INSETE study, according to which, the highest number of employees, 429.2 thousand, were hired in the sectors of accommodation and catering in the third quarter of 2019 since 2010.

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The coronavirus pandemic led to a drastic reduction in tourism activity on a global scale, resulting in the collapse of revenues in our Greece. Based on the data of the Bank of Greece (s.s. today, Tuesday, the data of the seven months will be published in more detail) the tourist receipts for the period January-July 2020 were only at 1.25 billion euros from 9.1 billion euro in the corresponding period last year, recording a decrease of 86.2%. In terms of arrivals, those of non-resident travellers decreased by 80.1% compared to the corresponding period of 2019 for the seven-month period.

The World Tourism Organization estimates that the reduction of revenues in 2020 compared to 2019, will exceed 60% and may approach 80%. Amid this environment, Greek tourism also recorded great losses. However, the experience of the last decades has shown that tourism is an activity that is in a long-term upward trend and is able to bounce back from temporary recessions.