Greece\u2019s tourism sector remains vulnerable to concentrated source markets, overstretched destinations and reliance on tour operators, according to a PwC Greece study presented on Wednesday at the \u201cReimagine Tourism in Greece\u201d conference in Athens.<\/p>\n
The study, unveiled by PwC Greece director Alexandros Chloros, outlines three structural dependencies, three emerging threats and three opportunities for strengthening resilience in a sector that drew 36 million arrivals and \u20ac21.7 billion in revenue in 2024.<\/p>\n
The conference, organized by Kathimerini, aims to shape a long-term strategy for sustainable, high-quality tourism that protects cultural heritage and supports local communities.<\/p>\n
Three dependencies<\/p>\n
PwC\u2019s analysis highlights Greece\u2019s heavy reliance on five major markets \u2013 Germany, the UK, France, Italy and, increasingly, the United States. \u201cFocusing on key markets left the Greek market exposed to phenomena like the recession of 2010, the Covid pandemic of 2020-21, or even the impact of Brexit,\u201d Chloros said.<\/p>\n
A second dependency involves six island destinations \u2013 Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Paros and Corfu \u2013 which absorb a disproportionate share of arrivals. \u201cSome popular destinations, such as Mykonos, Corfu and Santorini, are under too much pressure\u2026 inadequate infrastructure challenges the sustainability of the national tourism product,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The study also points to Greece\u2019s longstanding dependence on tour operator packages, which account for about one-third of arrivals and hospitality revenue. Chloros said the sector\u2019s exposure became clear during the 2019 collapse of Thomas Cook, adding that the group\u2019s rescue \u201chelped us avoid further exacerbation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three threats<\/p>\n
PwC identifies the climate crisis as a key threat, with shifting visitor preferences already visible. \u201cTwenty-eight percent of European tourists seem to prefer colder destinations to avoid heat,\u201d Chloros said, noting recent demand growth in Iceland, Norway and Finland.<\/p>\n
A second threat is Greece\u2019s persistent high\/low-season imbalance compared with competitors. \u201cSpain, Italy and Turkey achieve balance in their seasonal shares, whereas Greece, Croatia, Albania and Cyprus remain anchored to the sea-and-sun model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The third vulnerability is a long-term labor shortage in the tourism workforce. \u201cThere seems to be a lack of more than 50-80.000 people in recent years\u2026 by 2035 the shortage could reach 27% or 290,000 unfilled jobs,\u201d Chloros warned.<\/p>\n
Three opportunities<\/p>\n
PwC says Greece can strengthen resilience by adopting smart and eco-friendly tourism solutions, pointing to northern European examples. \u201cThe Netherlands, Hungary, Finland and Ireland have promoted green solutions through targeted instruments,\u201d Chloros said.<\/p>\n
Developing city-break destinations is another opportunity. \u201cAthens and Thessaloniki have begun to leverage their gastronomic and natural capital and host major international events such as the Acropolis Rally and the Athens Marathon,\u201d he said, adding that revenues have risen accordingly.<\/p>\n
The third opportunity is the development of new alternative destinations, with Messinia in the southwestern Peloponnese cited as a model. \u201cThe Costa Navarino resort upgraded the area and put it on the map\u2026 supported by investments in the motorway and airport,\u201d Chloros said. But he added that broader expansion is limited by \u201cinfrastructure gaps and the lack of an adequate railway network.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greece\u2019s tourism sector remains vulnerable to concentrated source markets, overstretched destinations and reliance on tour operators, according to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[79,26373,179,18,440,19,17,5,106093,5986],"class_list":{"0":"post-189793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-conference","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-reimagine-tourism-in-greece","17":"tag-tourism"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115579040790526739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}