Road tourism covers a significant part of the total traffic in our country and traditionally concerns the markets of the Balkans, as the short distances favor traveling by car, even for short getaways.

It seems that Greeks also show their preference for cars, especially families, who – as mentioned by Alexandros Angelopoulos, a member of the Board of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels – choose to travel by road in order to avoid the cost of being charged by the ferry. “There is an increased flow to the Peloponnese by road from Athens and the major urban centers, but also a drop in air travel.

As far as hotels are concerned, overnight stays have decreased while arrivals have increased. We are not doing badly, but clearly due to the pressured income and due to the increased costs (either air or ferry) one finds the golden ratio, which for the Athenian or anyone who lives in an urban environment, is road tourism as a priority, without of course excluding the island country”.

Apart from the Greeks, travelers also come by road from the port of Patras and Igoumenitsa. However, as Mr. Angelopoulos mentions, no significant effort has been made to promote the possibility of someone coming to our country through Ancona.

Serbs and Romanians by road in Greece

Despite the inflationary pressures that exist, it seems that inbound tourism is moving at good levels with stable “fans” of Greece, the Romanians, whose number, despite the overall decrease observed last year compared to 2019, showed a small increase.

According to the estimates of the competent bodies, this year’s picture gives many encouraging figures for road tourism, as Serbs are expected to reach one million (in 2022 it was 900,000) while in Thrace, where the percentage of tourists who go by road exceeds 70%, tourist traffic is very high.
At the same time, road tourism seems to be gaining ground inside the country as the percentage of Greeks who choose to travel by car within Greece and choose a continental destination is increasing.

As the president of the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers (POX) Grigoris Tassios mentioned, road tourism shows a remarkable mobility and the Romanians seem to be the protagonists. However, the problems due to inflation do exist, while another point worth mentioning is that the season this year was reduced to 80 of the 100 days it was last year and in 2019, both due to the inflationary pressures faced by potential travelers in their countries, and due to the bad weather conditions that prevailed in our country at the beginning of the season.

According to INSETE (Institute of the Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises) data regarding inbound road tourism, 8.0 million international road arrivals were recorded in the January-December 2022 period, compared to 12.3 million in the January-December 2019 period.
“Although we still do not have official data, it seems that the movement of Romanians is at a high level, according to the professionals. Romanians are the first market in terms of spending and this is very important to mention, while the top destinations they choose are Thassos, Pieria and Halkidiki”, says Giorgos Staphylakis, head of the EOT Office for Romania and Bulgaria. “However, now, and thanks to our own familiarization trips that we implement throughout Greece, Romanians also head to other places, further south, such as Evia and the Ionian”, he adds.

As he reports, the Romanians who came to our country in 2022 reached 1,478,000, a number that surpassed the figures of 2019, of which a percentage of the order of 70 to 80% moved by road.

Another market that traditionally chooses Greece is the Serbs. Speaking to the Athenian and Macedonian News Agency, the head of the EOT office for Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia, Giorgos Kakutis, said that the number of Serbs who traveled to Greece last year was approximately 900,000, while this year it is expected to reach one million. “As for the top destinations for Serbs, they include Halkidiki, Pieria, Corfu, Skiathos, the Greek islands and the big urban centers (Athens and Thessaloniki), while they now tend to discover new destinations, such as Pelion and the Peloponnese,” notes Mr. Kakoutis.

The region of Thrace, which is based for the most part on road tourism, mainly receives tourists from neighboring Bulgaria and Turkey, even for city breaks, but also from Romania. “The percentage of incoming tourists who come to our country by road is greater than 70% and despite inflation, the region this year shows high tourist traffic. Alexandroupolis is full and tourists disperse to other cities such as Komotini and Xanthi. It is worth mentioning, however, that we keep the prices at reasonable levels and this makes us a competitive destination”, points out the president of the Association of Hoteliers of Thrace, Apostolos Palakidis. “With regard to road tourism, which for us is extremely important, what we expect is for the infrastructure works to be carried out at the Kipi customs station, so that there is an easier flow for the people and to allow the passage of tourist buses from the Nymphaea station so that they can pass through Xanthi, Komotini and leave from Promahona, that is to say, make this round trip which would greatly help the tourist traffic”, he added poses.