Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- 01In 2025 the South Aegean took in about €27.7K of international receipts per licensed hotel bed, Crete about €22.0K and the North Aegean about €6.2K.
- 02A South Aegean bed sat behind about 4.4 times the receipts of a North Aegean bed.
- 03South Aegean receipts rose 16.5% on 0.7% more visits; North Aegean receipts fell 26.8% on 23.1% fewer visits.
- 04The measure uses international receipts only, so it ignores rentals and Greek guests and is not hotel revenue.
- 05Attica, the Ionian Islands and Central Macedonia are not shown because their bed counts could not be verified.
In 2025 the South Aegean took in about €27,700 of international tourism receipts for every licensed hotel bed in the region. Crete took in about €22,000. The North Aegean took in about €6,200. A South Aegean bed therefore sat behind about 4.4 times the money of a North Aegean bed, in a year when the South Aegean's receipts rose 16.5% and the North Aegean's fell 26.8%.
How the figure is built
We divided each region's international tourism receipts (Bank of Greece, as published by INSETE) by its licensed hotel beds at the end of 2024 (Hellenic Chamber of Hotels): 239,047 in the South Aegean, 196,877 in Crete and 23,102 in the North Aegean. The result is receipts per licensed hotel bed. It is not hotel revenue, because receipts cover everything international visitors spend in the region, in hotels or not.
The South Aegean: fewer beds than its fame suggests, more money per bed
The South Aegean holds 239,047 hotel beds, only about 21% more than Crete's 196,877, yet in 2025 it collected about 53% more in receipts. Its 2025 receipts were €6,624.8 million against about €4.34 billion for Crete. The region's rise came from spend per visit, not volume: visits grew 0.7% while receipts grew 16.5%.
The North Aegean: the opposite end
The North Aegean has 23,102 licensed hotel beds, about a tenth of the South Aegean's, and €144 million of receipts in 2025, down 26.8% from €197 million. Visits fell 23.1%, so spend per visit slipped 4.8%. Part of the gap may be how the region is used: Bank of Greece receipts count only international spending, so domestic demand, which we have not measured here, is invisible in the figure.
What the figure does and does not say
- It is not hotel profit or revenue. The numerator is all international spending in the region, including restaurants, transport and activities.
- It ignores short-term rentals. Guests in short-term rentals spend money in the region but occupy no hotel bed, so regions where rentals carry a large share of guests look more productive per hotel bed than they are.
- It ignores domestic guests. Greek holidaymakers use hotel beds but do not appear in international receipts, so regions with strong domestic demand look weaker.
Caveats on the numbers
- Regions covered. We show three island regions whose hotel bed counts we could check against more than one source. Attica, the Ionian Islands and Central Macedonia are not shown, because we could not verify their bed counts from a clean table. Capital-city regions with short stays and large business travel will likely rank high on this measure.
- Periods. Receipts are for 2024 and 2025; beds are end-2024 for both years. Crete's 2025 receipts (about €4.34 billion) are derived from the published −5.0% change, not a published euro amount.
- Bed counts. The South Aegean count (239,047) and the North Aegean count (23,102) are Hellenic Chamber of Hotels end-2024 figures as used across our island analyses. Crete's 196,877 is consistent with 196,669 reported for 2023 and 198,559 for 2025.
- Derived figures. Receipts per bed, shares and ratios are our calculations.
Sources
- INSETE: Inbound Tourism by Region 2024 (Bank of Greece regional receipts, visits and nights, 2024).
- Hellenic Chamber of Hotels: hotel capacity by region, 2024 (licensed hotel beds, end-2024).
Data Sources
Data period: 2024 and 2025
Methodology
Receipts per hotel bed = Bank of Greece international tourism receipts for the region ÷ licensed hotel beds at end-2024 (Hellenic Chamber of Hotels). 2025 Crete receipts are 2024 receipts (€4,568.7M) reduced by the published 5.0% fall. Change in spend per visit = (1 + receipts change) ÷ (1 + visits change) − 1.
Receipts include all international spending in a region and are not hotel revenue. Licensed hotel beds exclude short-term rentals. Domestic guests are in beds but not in receipts. Crete's 2025 receipts and all per-bed values are our calculations.
Data-driven analysis of Greek tourism trends, drawing on official Greek statistical and aviation releases, regional tourism studies, port authority data and independent sources to help travelers, businesses and researchers understand the forces shaping travel to Greece.
