Foreign visitors drive gains in Greek tourism in July

Tourist traffic in Greece continued its upward trend in July 2026. According to provisional data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), arrivals at hotels, campsites and short-stay accommodation reached 6.61 million, while overnight stays rose to 31.70 million.

Compared with July 2025, arrivals increased by 2.5%, and overnight stays by 2.0%.

Foreign visitors driving tourism growth

The picture differs markedly between Greek and foreign visitors.

Foreign visitors made around 5.30 million arrivals in July 2026, compared with 1.30 million arrivals by Greeks. Foreigners therefore account for 80.3% of all arrivals, while domestic travellers make up 19.7%.

The gap is even wider when it comes to overnight stays. Foreign visitors recorded 27.78 million overnight stays, compared with 3.92 million by Greeks. In other words, foreign tourists represent 87.6% of total overnight stays, while Greeks account for just 12.4%.

How Greeks and foreigners performed compared with 2025

A comparison with July 2025 shows that both groups moved upwards, but at a different pace.

Arrivals of foreign visitors rose by 2.9%, while their overnight stays increased by 2.2%.

For Greeks, the rise was more limited: arrivals went up by 0.8% and overnight stays by 0.4%.

Overall, the increase in tourist traffic in July was driven to a greater extent by demand from foreign markets.

Longer stays for foreign visitors

The difference between the two groups becomes even clearer when looking at the average length of stay.

Across all types of accommodation, foreign visitors stayed on average 5.2 days, compared with 3.0 days for Greeks.

In hotel-type accommodation and campsites, the average stay for foreigners was 5.2 days, versus 2.8 days for Greeks.

In short-stay accommodation, the average stay was 5.4 days for foreign visitors and 3.5 days for Greeks.

Overall, the average stay for all visitors stood at 4.8 days, unchanged compared with July 2025.

Hotels, rentals and campsites

The dominance of foreign visitors is not limited to a single type of accommodation.

In hotel-type accommodation, foreigners account for around 81.1% of arrivals, compared with 18.9% for Greeks. In terms of overnight stays, the share of foreigners reaches 89.3%.

In short-stay accommodation, foreign visitors represent 79.6% of arrivals and 85.6% of overnight stays.

In campsites, the picture is more balanced, although foreigners still hold the majority: they account for 60.2% of arrivals and 55.9% of overnight stays, compared with 39.8% and 44.1% respectively for Greeks.

The overall picture

In July 2026, a total of 6,608,128 arrivals and 31,701,467 overnight stays were recorded in the tourism accommodation covered by the survey.

Compared with July 2025, arrivals increased by 158,486, while overnight stays were up by 624,020.

The figures point to a tourism sector that depends strongly on international demand: foreign visitors account for four out of five arrivals and almost nine out of ten overnight stays. At the same time, they spend more days in accommodation than Greek visitors.

Note: The data for July 2026 are provisional. The data for July 2025 are final.

Additional sources • https://www.statistics.gr/

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