The islands of the southern Aegean (i.e. mostly the Cyclades) and Crete were among the 30 most popular tourism destinations in the EU during 2015, the last year for which relevant figures were released, according to Eurostat last week.
Eurostat based its findings on overnight stays.
Europe’s “Big Three”, Spain, France and Italy, again led the rankings.
For Greece’s southern Aegean islands, 23.4 million overnight stays were recorded; 23.3 million for Crete. The rankings put the two Greek regions in 26th and 27th place, respectively. By comparison, Cyprus recorded 13.4 overnight stays in 2015.
The Canary Islands were number one in the EU with 94 million overnight stays, followed by Paris with 76.8 million and Barcelona, 75.5 million.
