Europeans may be the main reservoir of inbound tourism for Greece, but the big difference this year in arrivals and revenues for Greek destinations is made by the American market. The Americans, who, after the Germans, the British, and the French, are the fourth largest tourist market for our country, are becoming the big trump card for Greek tourism this year, breaking every record.

Estimates for tourism receipts from the US in 2023 raised the bar for the first time to historically high levels, even in the vicinity of 1.5 billion euros, surpassing the performance of the “golden” year of 2019.

Similarly, the arrivals of Americans at “Eleftherios Venizelos”, either by direct flights or with stopovers, have exceeded 640,000 passengers for the first time until July, almost double compared to 2022 and up 67% compared to 2019, while the plans of foreign airlines already point to an expansion of routes, planning earlier for the 2024 season direct connections between Athens and major American airports.

And it’s not just tourism: domestic real estate is becoming more alluring to the US dollar, with interest from across the pond for real estate purchases in Athens and popular island destinations increasing, primarily from expatriates but not only.

Greek real estate has become more attractive at the current juncture for prospective buyers from the US, as a result of the enhanced tourism performance and easier access with additional air connections to Eleftherios Venizelos.

Expansion of routes

Indeed, the US market remains the largest foreign market for the capital’s main airport this year, almost twice the size of the second largest, which is the UK.

Arrivals of Americans via stopovers, e.g. major hubs such as Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, etc., also have the lion’s share compared to direct flights. The latter, however, is also showing an impressive performance this year, with further prospects for the coming season from American, Delta, and United Airlines, in addition to Emirates, which is the only one to maintain the Athens-New York route throughout the year.

In terms of direct traffic to and from America (Greek and foreign, arrivals and departures) this year, it has exceeded half a million passengers in seven months, up 11% compared to the same period in 2022 and 63% compared to 2019, with a continuation to 2024 to follow, if the airlines’ planning for next year is taken into account:

Indicative:

■ American Airlines has already announced an expansion of routes to Athens for next season, completing this year’s summer schedule in late October and restarting its direct service to New York earlier, at the end of March 2024.

■ Delta Airlines, sensing significant demand for Greece, plans to discontinue its direct service to New York for only two months, maintaining its routes through the first ten days of January 2024 and restarting on March 11 of the new year.

■ Similarly, United Airlines has increased for an additional month compared to 2022 the duration of both of its summer routes this summer, to the end of November on its New York service and to the end of October on its Washington service.