By Paris Tsirigotis

The need for a holistic approach to the development of tourist ports and berths for pleasure boats is pointed out to Naftemporiki, a Greek daily business newspaper, by representatives of the sector.

Greece is one of the world’s most popular destinations, but it continues to lag behind in infrastructure, with significant revenue losses for the Greek economy, they reported, while stressing that the cost burden and the increase in the operating costs of boats for its professional sector work in favor of neighboring competition countries such as Croatia, Turkey, and Italy.

The president of the Greek Marinas Association, Stavros Katsikadis, said that the demand for berths in popular destinations, especially in the Ionian, Dodecanese and Attica, is still high, especially in the summer months, and at the moment the number of existing berths cannot be met.

He also emphasized that the latest regulation of the Tourism Ministry to address the ever-increasing needs while establishing the possibility of installing floating platforms in marinas can mark the beginning of the efforts made to solve the problem of demand by about 10%.

Moreover, it will be allowed to locate and build auxiliary facilities for pleasure boats that are accommodated in tourist ports.

For the first time, it will be possible to build and place organized sanitary areas (toilets-bathrooms and special facilities for people with disabilities), while electrical stations for powering the boats and service cabins will be able to be installed.

The Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) announced the monthly provisional data of arrivals and nights spent in hotels, similar establishments, tourist campsites and short-stay accommodation establishments in May 2024.

According to the survey, arrivals in tourist accommodation establishments amounted to 3,754,414 and nights spent amounted to 15,012,287 in May 2024, recording an increase of 3.4% in arrivals and of 4.6% in nights spent when compared to the corresponding month of 2023.

More specifically, in May 2024, compared with the corresponding month of 2023, arrivals and nights spent for non-residents increased by 3.6% and 4.7%, while arrivals and nights spent for residents increased by 2.5% and 3.7%.

Significantly more tourists than last year seem to have chosen Greece for their summer holidays this year.

According to the data released by the Bank of Greece, the travel balance showed a surplus of 1.649 billion euros in May 2024, compared to a surplus of 1.605 billion euros in the corresponding month of 2023.

In particular, an increase of 6.8% was recorded in travel revenue in May 2024, totaling 1.935 billion euros, compared to 1.811 billion euros in the corresponding month of 2023, while a 38.5% increase was also observed in travel payments (May 2024: 285.8 million, May 2023: 206.3 million).

In this particular month, 21.3% more tourists visited our country than in May 2023.

However, the average spending per trip fell by 12.2%. Even so, total net revenue from the provision of travel services was up and offset by the 47.8% the deficit in the goods balance, while contributing 87.3% to total net receipts from services.

The rise in travel revenue was driven by a 20.6% increase in inbound travel traffic as average spending per trip fell by 3.6%. Net receipts from the provision of travel services offset by 18.0% of the deficit in the goods balance and contributed 66.6% to total net revenue from services.

Travel revenue

Regarding the most important countries of origin of travelers in the eurozone, revenue from Germany decreased by 0.9% and amounted to 425.1 million euros, while revenue from France and Italy increased by 1.6% and 68.6% respectively to 155.4 million euros and 63.0 million euros.

Outside the eurozone, revenue from the United Kingdom showed an increase of 1.6% to 284.0 million, while revenue from the USA decreased by 9.0% to 155.7 million euros. Finally, travel revenue from Russia fell by 82.1% to 1.1 million euros.