The Greek tourism industry may open up to India, China, and US visitors, writes the financial journal Handelsblatt.

“About three-quarters of holidaymakers from abroad last year were from EU member states and Great Britain. But the big growth potential, according to industry experts, is no longer in these traditional markets, partly because of weak economic activity there.

As part of its medium-term tourism strategy, Greece should therefore turn more to more distant markets such as the US and China, a new survey by the National Bank of Greece suggests.

In this way, the country could attract holidaymakers with greater consumption potential, more foreigners in the off-highseason months, develop alternative destinations and thus counter hyper-tourism in tourist hotspots during the summer months.”

By extending the tourist season, holidaymakers from other continents “can offer prospects for sustainable growth in the Greek tourism industry, as the EIB study notes, (…) because visitors from these countries have a greater interest in cultural attractions and thematic trips outside the tourist hotspots and the high-season”.

According to a report by Mabrian, “35% of Indian visitors to Greece are primarily interested in cultural attractions such as archaeological sites – only 7.7% come primarily for sea bathing. […] At the same time, in 2024 the number of visitors from China increased by 30% to 139,000. This number, however, remains lower compared to 2019, the last year before the pandemic, when 217,600 holidaymakers came from China. But experts believe the growth potential is great.

The same is true for the US market: visitors from the US have increased by 42% since 2022. […] Americans are welcome visitors to Greece, as they spend twice as much per capita as other tourists spend on average. Moreover, about 50% of American tourists come in the off-season – the corresponding figure for other tourists is about 33%,” Handelsblatt concludes.

.

.