Domestic tourism spending in Greece has shrunk by two-thirds during the ongoing eight-year economic crisis, reaching its lowest point in 2015 – the recession’s annus horribilis – according to figures released this week by the national statistical authority, EL.STAT.
In a study focusing on the specific year, EL.STAT said tourism-related spending by Greek citizens was down by 67 percent in 2015, compared to 2008.
Year-on-year, spending for travel and holidays that included at least one overnight stay reached 1.264 billion euros in 2015, when the same figure for 2014 was 1.352 billion euros.
At the same time, the figure for 2008, before the advent of the fiscal and economic meltdown, was 3.868 billion euros, according to a recent bulletin by the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), entitled “Greek Tourism Developments – Prospects”.
According to SETE, between 2008 and 2015, the number of holiday excursions that involved at least four overnight stays by Greek tourists in the country fell by 50.7 percent; the average per capital spending per trip decreased by 32 percent, while overall spending was down by 66.5 percent over the specific eight-year period.
As expected, the major decrease was attributed to the unprecedented, by post-war standards, crisis in the country.
