By Alexia Sotiriou

 

The footprint of the tourism industry in the Greek economy is growing, according to the INSETE study, which shows that the direct contribution of tourism jumped to 28.5 billion euros in 2023. This corresponds to 13% of the country's GDP and is the highest ever recorded. In 2022 the corresponding figures were 23.9 billion euros and 11.6% of GDP.

 

The above figures come from the latest study by the Institute INSETE on "The contribution of tourism to the Greek economy in 2023", according to which if the indirect contribution of the sector through multipliers is taken into account, the corresponding percentage rises to about 30%.

 

The contribution to strengthening employment

 

Tourism activity remains mainly export oriented, since 82.7% of receipts come from inbound tourism. Furthermore, the sector directly contributed at the peak, in the third quarter of 2023, to 16.4% of employment and overall (directly and indirectly) to a percentage of approximately 40%, contributing to the reduction of unemployment.

 

A 23.5% increase compared to 2019

 

The direct impact of tourism saw an increase of 23.5% compared to 23.1 billion euros in 2019 with significant increases in all individual expenditures (inbound tourism, cruise, transport, domestic tourism, investment). Compared to 2022, when the direct impact was 23.9 billion euros, the increase in 2023 was also 19.5%, with significant increases in all individual costs.

 

Higher investments

 

According to the study, investments rose to 5.1 billion euros in 2023, of which around 2.5 billion euros correspond to the domestic added value, compared to 2.7 billion euros and 1.2 billion euros respectively in 2019 and 3.7 billion euros and 1.7 billion euros in 2022.