Opportunity 13.6 billion euros for Greece senior tourism

An important opportunity for the Greek economy can be senior tourism, as according to a diANEOsis study presented at the Daily Health Summit, it can contribute 13.6 billion euros and 173,000 additional jobs over five years.

According to data provided by Faye Makantasi, Head of Research at diANEOsis, one third of the total expenditure of European tourists in the coming years will come from people aged 65 and over.

Senior tourism is divided into short-term tourism and so-called “snowbird tourism”, where visitors stay for a long time, renting or buying a house.

According to the diANEOsis survey, if Greece aims to conquer 15% of the second home market for Northern European retirees, then we will need 400,000 homes in the next 20 years.

From the sale or long-term rent of 20,000 homes per year and with new owners spending an average of 6 months a year in our country, the impact on GDP will be over 5 billion euros per year and about 60,000 new jobs will be created. .

As 7.3% of Europeans say they want to stay permanently in southern Europe after retirement, Plato Tinios, Associate Professor at the University of Piraeus, notes that the country that is best prepared to welcome them is Spain, which has been investing in it since the 1950s, albeit at the expense of the environment, which has deteriorated. “Greece, having entered the game later, has the advantage that it has learned from the mistakes of others”, noted Mr. Tinios, emphasizing that as a more exotic destination than Spain, Greece can invest in it to have more quality inflow of tourism.

The discussion was moderated by Thodoris Georgakopoulos, Content Manager of diANEOsis.