Photo Source: PPA
Greece welcomed 40.7 million visitors in 2024, generating 21.6 billion euros in tourism revenue, according to final data released by the Bank of Greece.
Of this total, cruise tourism alone contributed 1.112 billion euros, marking a 22.4 percent increase compared to 2023. Greece welcomed an estimated 5 million individual cruise passengers in 2024.
Excluding cruise activity, inbound tourism accounted for approximately 35.95 million travelers and 20.6 billion euros in receipts.
The Bank of Greece’s Cruise Survey, which supplements data from the standard Border Survey, covered activity at 16 major Greek ports, accounting for 86.3 percent of all cruise ship arrivals.
In 2024, Greece welcomed 5.01 million cruise passengers, reflecting a 43.8 percent increase compared to the previous year. This was mirrored by a rise in cruise passenger visits, which totaled 7.83 million – a 12.4 percent increase. The distinction between the two figures is that the number of passengers represents those who arrived at Greek ports, while the passenger visits count includes multiple stops by the same passengers at different ports during their cruise.
According to the Bank of Greece data, cruise travel contributed significantly to Greece’s tourism sector in 2024.
Total receipts from cruise passengers rose by 22.4 percent compared to 2023, reaching 1,112.2 million euros. Of this amount, 111.5 million euros was captured in the Border Survey data, accounting for receipts from cruise passengers leaving Greece, while the remaining 1,000.6 million euros came from additional receipts recorded by the Cruise Survey.
The cruise sector saw 5,308 ship arrivals across Greek ports in 2024, with overnight stays ashore increasing by 31.5 percent to 12.39 million.
The Port of Piraeus remained the leading hub, accounting for 48.5 percent of all cruise receipts (chart 6), followed by Corfu (11.8 percent) and Heraklion (8 percent).
In terms of arrivals (chart 7), Piraeus also ranked first with a 15.3 percent share, ahead of Mykonos (14.5 percent) and Santorini (14.1 percent).
Cruise visitors were primarily transit passengers (81.2 percent), making an average of 1.6 stopovers at Greek ports. Notably, the seven busiest cruise ports (chart 8) generated 90.5 percent of total cruise revenue and 82 percent of all cruise passenger visits.
These latest figures reaffirm the growing significance of cruise tourism to Greece’s travel sector and underscore the country’s standing as a major destination in the global cruise market.
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