Despite record-breaking tourism arrivals and revenues in 2024, nearly one in two Greeks were unable to afford even a week-long holiday, according to new data released by Eurostat.
The EU statistics agency found that 46 percent of Greeks aged 16 and over could not afford a one-week vacation away from home last year, placing Greece in the second-worst position in the European Union — just ahead of Romania, where 58.6 percent of citizens reported the same.
Bulgaria, which had long trailed Greece in this category, reported a smaller share of citizens facing holiday exclusion in 2024, at 41.4 percent.
The phenomenon, often referred to as “holiday poverty”, continues to disproportionately affect southern European countries, underlining persistent socioeconomic divides within the bloc.
By contrast, wealthier member states reported far lower levels of tourism exclusion. In Luxembourg, just 8.9 percent of the population said they couldn’t afford a vacation, compared to 11.6 percent in Sweden and 13 percent in the Netherlands.
Across the EU as a whole, 27 percent of citizens said they could not afford a one-week holiday in 2024. The figure marks a 1.5 percentage point drop compared to 2023 and is down significantly — by 10.6 percentage points — compared to a decade ago (2014).
Greece’s slide compared to 2023
In 2023, Eurostat reported that 43 percent of Greeks were unable to take a one-week holiday, meaning the country saw a deterioration of 3 percentage points in just one year.
Meanwhile, Hungary showed marked improvement, with its holiday deprivation rate dropping from 43 percent to 39.3 percent. Bulgaria also made gains, reducing its rate by 2.6 percentage points year-on-year.
National sentiment reflects the data
The Eurostat findings align with recent national data. According to a 2025 survey by the Research Institute of Retail Consumer Goods (IELKA), 52 percent of Greeks said they did not plan to go on holiday at all this summer, citing financial constraints as a primary reason.
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