Study explains how Greek tourism can hit €27bn in revenue by 2030

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Under certain conditions, revenue from Greek tourism by 2030 could rise to an annual 27 billion euros from its record figure of 18 billion Euros in 2019, according to a research body.

Based on data from its latest study conducted by Deloitte-Remaco, which was presented during the Greek Tourism Confederation’s (SETE) recent online conference “Greek Tourism: Coming Back – Planning Forward”, INSETE set a goal for Greek tourism by 2030 to:

– boost its earnings by 52 percent (with an average annual increase of 6.2 percent) to 27 billion euros, compared to 18 billion euros in 2019

– increase the number of overnight stays by 32 percent (with an average annual increase of 4 percent) to 307 million, compared to 233 million in 2019

– raise the number of arrivals to the country by 27 percent (with an average annual increase of 3.5 percent) to 50 million , up from 39 million in 2019.

The “Greek Tourism 2030 | Action Plans” study highlights that in order for Greece to further thrive as a destination its goals must include combating seasonality (extending the tourism season); boosting the attractiveness of the country’s regions (and areas with tourism development potential) to achieve a better distribution of tourism demand; and increasing the average expenditure and length of stay per visitor by 2030.

According to the study, the industry must focus on the five following axes in order to achieve the desired increase in revenue, overnight stays and arrivals by 2030:

– improve tourism infrastructure and upgrade the tourist product (existing tourism infrastructure must be improved and new investment projects should be carried out to strengthen the industry’s main tourism product which is Sun & Beach, and also support other forms of tourism including yachting, cruise tourism, cultural tourism, city break tourism and conference tourism),

– achieve the digital upgrade and transformation of Greece’s tourism ecosystem to meet the needs of the modern traveler,

– boost marketing and promotional actions,

– protect the environment and promote sustainability,

– enhance the skills of tourism professionals and workers.

The INSETE study includes action plans that could be created in 36 Greek destinations and destination clusters in all 13 regions of the country.

The study lists each destination’s tourism products and development opportunities per target market in each region and also proposes actions for further development.

As underlined during the study’s presentation, one of the main points of INSETE’s “Greek Tourism 2030 | Action Plans” study is that it identifies “how” Greece’s tourism products they can be developed, rather than “which” ones should be developed.

INSETE Research Director Dr Aris Ikkos said that they have selected specific destinations and identified which products each destination can develop and which markets to target, taking into account that the development of tourism towards 2030 requires the creation of combined products and services that will allow tourists to gain the experiences they seek.

With these new products it will be possible to further penetrate into established and mature markets, as well as the development of long-haul markets in the post-Covid era, he added.

With regard to key markets, the study confirmed that Greece should keep its focus on the well-established inbound tourism markets of Western Europe (such as Germany, United Kingdom, France) and of Eastern Europe with a particular focus on Russia.

In addition, Greece should also concentrate on attracting travelers from major emerging markets for global tourism (such as China, India and South Korea) and from strong and big markets of North America (such as the United States and Canada).

The study’s message

On his part, INSETE General Manager Dr Elias Kikilias said the study’s main message is that each Greek destination has the ability to form its own unique chain of values ​​and experiences, and its own development path in terms of sustainability, competitiveness and resilience.

The time has come for Greek tourism to shift from a spontaneous development to a thorough way of planning and conducting policies through effective cooperation.

The issue of managing, governing and promoting destinations needs to be at the heart of our effort. In this regard, the present study is a framework for public debate, consultation and further development, he said.

According to the study, Greek tourism can achieve the aforementioned goals by 2030 under the conditions that its performance metrics have fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 and that the industry will not be affected by external factors (such as crises) in the 2023-2030 period.

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