International overnight stays in Greek hotels at French levels in Q2

The total number of overnight stays by international travelers in tourist accommodations in Greece in the second quarter of 2025 was at the level of... France, according to data presented by Eurostat.

Specifically, our country recorded 40.1 million overnight stays by international travelers in tourist accommodations in the quarter of April, May, June 2025, an increase of 2.5% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024, and France recorded 40 million, showing an increase of 12%. The latter owes the total of 124 million overnight stays recorded in the second quarter of the year to domestic tourism, which contributed with 84 million overnight stays.

The most dynamic country in terms of growth in international overnight stays within the EU was Slovenia, which recorded an increase of 17.7% (3.45 million), followed by Poland (+16.3% to 5 million overnight stays) and Finland (+15.5% to 1.3 million).

More than 4 in 10 overnight stays during this period (168.6 million out of 407.9 million) were recorded in Spain (91.4 million, +2.5%) and Italy (77.2 million, +5.9%).

In contrast, the number of international overnight stays in Germany (-3.2%, to 21.7 million) and Sweden (-1.5%, to 4 million) followed a downward trend, however in both countries these "gaps" were compensated by an increase in domestic tourism leading to a positive final performance of the quarter (+3.3% and +2.9% respectively).

Overall for the EU, international tourism (+21.2 million overnight stays, +5.5%) contributed slightly more to the overall growth, by 5.1%, than domestic tourism (+18.9 million overnight stays, +4.7%).

+2.4% total overnight stays in Greece - Greater increase in short-stays than hotels

Regarding the total overnight stays in tourist accommodations (domestic and international tourism), Greece recorded 46 million overnight stays, up 2.4% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024, since the increase in overnight stays by Greeks amounted to +1.7%, to 5.9 million. More specifically, per month, the total overnight stays in tourist accommodations in the country amounted to 7 million in April, 15.3 million in May and 23.6 million in June, indicative of the seasonality of the Greek tourism product. The largest increase in overnight stays (+3.5%) was observed in holiday accommodation and other short-stay accommodation, which reached 8.7 million. This was followed by hotels and similar accommodation with an increase of 2.1% (36.7 million) and campsites with +2% (521,000).

In the second quarter, double-digit growth was recorded in Slovenia (+14.2%), followed by Malta (+9.9%), Slovakia (+9.3%) and Austria (+9.0%). In absolute terms, the largest increases were observed in France (+8.7 million overnight stays), Italy (+5.8 million), Spain (+5.6 million) and Germany (4 million).

18 million more nights spent in European hotels

826.1 million nights spent in tourist accommodation were recorded in the EU, corresponding to 40.2 million more nights spent (+5.1%) than in the second quarter of 2024. The significant increase at EU level, as well as the increases recorded in all EU countries for which data were available, can be partly linked to the Easter weekend falling in April this year (while last year Easter coincided with the end of the first quarter in many countries). All types of tourist accommodation increased in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.

The trend of overnight stays in European short-term rental accommodation is also "running" at a faster pace. The data shows that 519.5 million overnight stays were made in hotels and similar accommodation, recording an increase of 3.6% (+18 million overnight stays) and representing 62.9% of tourist accommodation. At the same time, overnight stays in holiday accommodation and other short-stay accommodation (representing 23% of the tourist accommodation market) and the smaller segment of campsites (representing 14.1% of overnight stays in the second quarter) increased by 7.8% each.