Greek tourism jobs to reach 1 million in 2019

The tourism and travel sector in Greece grew by 6.9% in 2018 - at a rate 3.5 times higher than the growth rate of the national economy at large, which was 2.0%, according to a study by the World Travel & Tourism Council.

The Council also underlined that tourism represents 20.6% of Greece's GDP, compared to 10.4%, the global rate for tourism to GDP.

This means that one in five euros spent in Greece last year came from the tourism and travel industry, a spending total of 37.5 billion euros. Also, one-quarter of employment in Greece is in tourism, equivalent to 988,600 jobs. In 2019, this figure is expected to exceed one million jobs, according to the WTTC's estimated trajectory of Greek tourism. 



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This data comes from the WTTC's Economic Impact Research 2019 Annual Review of the economic impact and social importance of tourism. The survey, which has been conducted by the WTTC for nearly 30 years, shows that the growth of tourism and travel in Greece went beyond the European Union's sector growth rate of 2.4%. The Greek travel sector has risen steadily compared to the European averages, boosted by 18.5 billion euros from the spending of international visitors, and accounting for 27.9% of total exports, it said.
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At the same time, two-thirds of incoming travel spending in Greece came from international visitors (66%) and one-third of domestic travel (34%). Finally, the bulk of travel expenses (94%) were for recreational purposes and 6% for business.
"Our long-term tourism strategy, which we have been implementing since 2015, has led to excellent results in the development of tourism in Greece and has decisively supported the Greek economy in the most difficult times of the crisis," commented Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura. "We have achieved our goal of creating thousands of new jobs, new business, new sources of income and mobilizing new tourism investment. Our goal is to maintain Greece's strong tourist dynamics and maximize its benefits for local communities across the country, recognizing the enormous value of tourism as a major force for employment, economic and social well-being," Kountoura said.