Athens, 7 May 2024 (MIA) – A total of 1,128,000 tourists from North Macedonia visited Greece last year, a figure almost doubled compared to 2022, show data of the Institute of the Association of Greek Tourist Businesses INSETE, MIA reports from Athens.

In its research, INSETE analyzes official data of the Bank of Greece involving tourism and tourists in the country in 2023. It specifically focuses on each of the 13 Greek regions.

North Macedonia is once again in the top 15 countries according to the number of tourists remaining at the 11th spot although the number of visitors from North Macedonia has drastically increased. 

Countries in the top 15, according to the number of visitors to Greece, include Germany, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Italy, France, United States, Romania, the Netherlands, Poland, Albania, North Macedonia, Turkey, Austria, Belgium and Serbia. 

Last year saw an increase of 46.5% of the number of visitors from North Macedonia compared to the previous year – 2023 recorded 1,128,000 visitors whereas 770,000 were recorded in 2022.

As regards visits by tourists from North Macedonia, 2023 recorded 1,132,000 visits and 771,000 visits were registered in 2022. Most visits were made to the northern parts of Greece. 

Regarding peripheries, which is the focus of the analysis, the region of Attica, the wider region of Athens is the most visited, followed by the islands in the southern part of the Aegean Sea, the central parts of norther Greece – the region that includes Thessaloniki and Khalkidhiki, where visitors from North Macedonia are in the top three countries.

Central Macedonia is third with 6,566,000 visits. Most visits are from Bulgaria (1,821,000), followed by North Macedonia (1,079,000) and Germany (917,000), according to the analysis. 

Even though North Macedonia is in the top three countries according to the number of visits to the said region, it isn’t in the top three countries according to the number of overnight stays and according to the money spent during the stay.