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Tourist traffic in Greece moved on an upward trajectory in August 2026, with arrivals and overnight stays in hotels, campsites and rented rooms increasing compared with the same month in 2025.
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However, behind the overall positive picture, significant differences emerge both between Greek and foreign visitors and between the different types of accommodation.
According to provisional data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), total arrivals reached 7,429,931, up 2.6%, while overnight stays amounted to 34,685,695, posting a 2.1% increase. The rise in arrivals was therefore 0.5 percentage points higher than the corresponding growth in overnight stays.
Foreign visitors drive the increase
Foreign tourists played a decisive role, accounting for 76.7% of all arrivals and 84% of overnight stays. Greek residents, by contrast, represented 23.3% of arrivals and 16% of overnight stays.
The gap is particularly evident in overnight stays: the share of foreign visitors was 68 percentage points higher than that of Greeks. The figures highlight the stronger contribution of international demand to the overall activity of accommodation establishments.
In terms of annual change, arrivals of foreign visitors increased by 2.9%, compared with 1.7% for Greek residents, a difference of 1.2 percentage points. Similarly, overnight stays by foreigners rose by 2.3%, against 1.2% for Greeks, widening the gap to 1.1 percentage points.
Rented rooms grow more rapidly
The sharpest increase in tourist activity was recorded in collective short-stay accommodation, that is, rented rooms. Arrivals there rose by 5.2%, outpacing by 3.7 percentage points the 1.5% increase observed in hotels and campsites.
The difference was even more pronounced in overnight stays. In rented rooms, overnight stays climbed by 4.6%, compared with just 1.1% in hotels and campsites – a gap of 3.5 percentage points.
This picture shows that, in terms of percentage change, short-stay accommodation moved significantly faster than the category of hotels and campsites.
Foreign and Greek visitors across accommodation types
In hotels and campsites, arrivals of foreign visitors increased by 1.9%, while those of Greek residents rose by 0.5%, a difference of 1.4 percentage points. For overnight stays, the corresponding rise was 1.2% for foreigners and 0.8% for Greeks, narrowing the gap to just 0.4 points.
In rented rooms, by contrast, the increases were clearly higher. Arrivals of foreign visitors went up by 5.5%, against 4.2% for Greek residents, while overnight stays grew by 5.1% and 2.2% respectively. As a result, the gap between foreign and Greek visitors reached 1.3 percentage points in arrivals and 2.9 points in overnight stays.
Foreign visitors stay for longer
The average length of stay in August remained at 4.7 days, unchanged compared with August 2025. Nonetheless, the difference between the two categories of visitors is noteworthy.
Foreign tourists stayed on average 5.1 days, while Greek residents stayed 3.2 days. This is a gap of 1.9 days, as the average stay of foreigners was roughly 59% longer than that of Greeks.
The same pattern is observed both in hotels and campsites and in rented rooms: in the former, the average stay of foreign visitors was 5.1 days, compared with 3.2 days for Greeks, while in the latter it stood at 5.2 and 3.3 days respectively.
ELSTAT’s figures for August 2026 confirm an increase in tourist traffic, with clearly faster growth in rented rooms and a stronger contribution from foreign visitors. At the same time, the rise in arrivals outpaced that in overnight stays, while the average length of stay remained unchanged.
Additional sources • ΕΛΣΤΑΤ
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