As the summer season approaches, tourist operators in Greece are confident that travelers from the United States will return this year in record numbers.
Trends indicate that American tourism in Greece this year will approach — and possibly exceed — the record levels of 2019, barring international geopolitical uncertainties such as the war in Ukraine.
Recent data released by the Institute of the Greek Tourism Confederation shows that active air bookings, made by the end of March for trips from the U.S. to Greece, have reached the same level as at the same point in 2019.
Greece has apparently recovered a bigger share of its pre-pandemic foot traffic from the U.S., in comparison with other southern European countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal.
A recent survey by Tourix, based on Google data, shows that most searches for tourism destinations in Greece come from the U.S., followed by the UK, France and Germany.
In 2019 travel takings from the U.S. lagged behind only those from Germany and Britain.
U.S. airlines are also betting on an increased number of travelers to Greece and have scheduled a record number of direct flights for the season. An estimated maximum of 22,000 seats per week is expected for U.S.-Greece flights this summer.
