While much enmity remains between Greeks and Germans because of Greece’s crushing economic crisis and the view from Berlin that it’s because of a laissez-faire attitude about work, it hasn’t kept German tourists from coming – and spending.
On an annual basis, German tourists are the biggest spenders in Greece, putting out some 1.65 billion euros ($2.13 billion) a year here, according to a Bank of Greece report. However, the same report revealed that in terms of spending per trip and per night, it is Australians who spend more per person and trip, with average expenditures of 1,327 euros ($1,714) per visit and 125 euros ($165) per night.
Last year tourism revenues exceeded 10 billion euros ($13 billion) in a disappointing show as many would-be visitors were frightened off by the economic crisis and repeated images of protests, strikes and riots. The return was far lower than the record 11.6 billion euros ($14.99 billion) in 2008 before the fiscal woes began. But optimism abounds this could be a big year for Greek tourism, with expectations of a record 17 million tourists, from 15.52 million in 2012.
Despite their decline from previous years, German tourists were the biggest group in Greece last year, at 2.1 million, ahead of the British (1.92 million) and the French (977,400). Britons spent a total of 1.42 billion euros ($1.83 billion) the Russians 944 million ($1.219 billion) and the French 764 million ($987.27 million).
Almost two-thirds of revenues , 6.6 billion euros ($8.52 billion) came from individual tourists while 3.4 billion ($4.39 billion) came from package holidays and cruise visitors. The amount that Greeks spent traveling abroad last year hit a 10-year low, at 1.8 billion euros ($2.32 billion) with average spending per trip at 393.90 euros, or about $509.
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