Greece, Spain and Egypt tourism revenue: comparing them with Türkiye the right way

Compare like with like, not headline totals. Greece's central-bank receipts are in euros and add cruise passengers; Spain's INE surveys count non-residents who stay overnight and include some international transport; Egypt's central bank reports a July-to-June fiscal year; Türkiye's TÜİK figure includes citizens resident abroad and only the package share that stays in Türkiye.

In an owner meeting someone writes four numbers on a whiteboard: Greece, Spain, Egypt, Türkiye. They look comparable because all four are called tourism revenue. They are four different measurements wearing the same name. After reading this, you will be able to ask the six questions that turn those numbers into an honest comparison, and to answer the tour operator who uses them as a negotiating move.

Why does the Greece, Spain and Egypt comparison come up in every owner meeting?#

Because the same tour operators sell all four destinations, and a single headline total is the fastest way to open an argument about price. The question underneath it is narrower: are we earning as much per visitor as they are. That is a fair question, but a headline total cannot answer it.

The comparison usually arrives as a negotiating move. An operator says another destination is cheaper, or richer, and produces a total to support it. Three separate questions hide inside that move: how many people came, how much did they spend, and how much of that spending stayed in the destination. A headline total answers none of the three directly, because each statistics office defines the counted population and the counted spending differently.

Every total is a sum of decisions. What counts as a visitor, whether transit and same-day visitors are in, whether transport is in, which year or fiscal period is used. The working rule is to name the publisher, the survey and the release date before the number, and to say which period it covers. For Türkiye, 2026 is flat; a 2025 comparison is not evidence of a 2026 trend in either direction. If the discussion turns to world rankings rather than national sources, our article on reading UN Tourism's tables covers that layer.

What does Greece's tourism revenue figure actually include?#

Greece's headline is a central-bank measure of travel receipts in euros, and its arrivals total adds cruise passengers that the main border survey does not capture. Travel receipts for 2025 were EUR 23,626.8 million, 9.4% more than 2024, and the balance of travel services showed a surplus of EUR 20,287.8 million, up 8.0%, in the Bank of Greece's final data for 2025 (opens in a new tab) (press release, 7 May 2026).

Inbound travellers numbered 43,311.9 thousand, up 6.4%. That total is the Border Survey's own estimate of 37,981.1 thousand plus cruise passenger flows, which are 12.3% of the total. Cruise receipts were EUR 1,166.3 million, up 4.9%. Of that, EUR 146.6 million was already inside the Border Survey data and EUR 1,019.7 million was added from the Bank's separate Cruise Survey.

Two receipts totals in one release#

The same release contains two receipts totals: EUR 23,626.8 million with cruise added, and EUR 22,607.1 million from the Border Survey alone. Both are correct; they answer different questions. Quote the one you mean, and say which one it is.

Average spending was EUR 545.5 per trip and EUR 96.6 per overnight stay, on an average stay of 5.6 nights. That per-night figure covers every kind of accommodation in the country, not a hotel rate. And the currency is the euro: turning it into lira or dollars requires a named exchange rate and its date, printed next to the result.

What does Spain's tourism revenue figure count?#

Spain's numbers come from two INE surveys of travellers leaving the country: FRONTUR counts non-residents who stay at least one night, and EGATUR measures what those travellers spent. In 2025 Spain counted 96,803,894 international tourists, up 3.25%, who spent EUR 134,743.32 million in total, up 6.82%, or EUR 1,392 per tourist, in the INE FRONTUR and EGATUR results (opens in a new tab) (definitive data in INEbase).

The first, provisional release of 3 February 2026 gave 96.8 million tourists and EUR 134,712 million. The small gap between provisional and definitive is normal; say which version you are quoting.

Who is counted: non-residents who stay overnight in Spain, classified by country of residence. Transit travellers and same-day visitors, called excursionists, are excluded. What is counted: EGATUR's total includes accommodation and activities, and also international transport that is not part of a package tour, which was 20.0% of December 2025 spending. That transport share is money spent on flights and journeys, not money a Spanish hotel can ever bill. A per-tourist average therefore sits above what a hotel sees.

One more structural point. Both surveys interview travellers as they leave Spain, so the unit is a trip, not a unique person; one traveler making three trips counts three times.

What does Egypt publish, and how current is the number?#

Egypt's most recent official figure is a central-bank balance-of-payments number for a July-to-June fiscal year, marked preliminary, and it arrives with no count of arrivals. Travel receipts for fiscal year 2025/2026, which runs from July 2025 to June 2026, were US$ 18,443.7 million (Central Bank of Egypt (opens in a new tab), balance of payments release, 12 October 2026). That is 10.3% more than the US$ 16,725.3 million recorded in fiscal year 2024/2025. Travel payments in the same release were US$ 4,423.9 million.

The release marks its figures as preliminary, so they can move. Treat the number as a first reading, not a settled one. The period is a fiscal year, not a calendar year; it overlaps two calendar years and cannot sit in the same column as a January-to-December total without a label saying so.

No arrival count is given, so you cannot derive spending per visitor from this release. Do not divide the receipts by an arrivals figure taken from somewhere else. A balance-of-payments measure records money entering the country, which is closer to what stayed than a gross spending survey, but it is a different instrument and answers a different question. And if the primary release cannot be opened, drop the country from the table and say so, rather than quoting a secondary figure.

What does Türkiye's tourism revenue figure include?#

TÜİK's 2025 figure is USD 65.23 billion, and it counts two things a foreign reader usually misses: citizens resident abroad, and only the part of a package tour that stays in Türkiye. Tourism revenue for 2025 was USD 65.23 billion, up 6.8%. Of that, visitors accounted for USD 64.45 billion and transit passengers USD 782 million (TÜİK, 30 January 2026). Our article on what TÜİK's 2025 figure includes covers the detail.

Visitors numbered 63,917,057, up 2.7%, and 17.5% of them, or 11,175,394, were citizens resident abroad. They are counted as visitors, and a comparison that counts only foreign passport holders is counting something else.

Citizens resident abroad, and the package share#

The visitors' total splits into individual spending of USD 46.25 billion, about 71.8%, and package-tour spending of USD 18.20 billion, 28.2% (TÜİK, Tourism Statistics 2025). The package share is counted as the part that stays in Türkiye. It is already netted, so it cannot be lined up against a gross spending survey that includes international transport.

The visitor count is departures from Türkiye. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism's border bulletin gives a slightly different arrivals number, and neither publisher reconciles the gap, so do not mix the two. And 2026 remains flat: do not carry a 2025 comparison forward as evidence of a 2026 trend.

One table: what each country's figure includes#

Set side by side, the four figures differ in period, currency, who is counted, cruise treatment, package treatment and revision status, and every one of those differences changes the number. Read the table across a row, not down a column: the differences are in the definitions, not in the size of the totals.

Greece and Spain both publish calendar-year 2025 figures, but Greece adds cruise passengers and Spain adds transport outside package tours. Egypt's row is a fiscal year and carries no arrival count, so it cannot produce a per-visitor figure at all. Türkiye's row is the only one where the package share is already netted to what stays in the country. Public data. No endorsement implied.

What can a hotel conclude from these figures, and what can it not?#

You can conclude that the four destinations are measured differently and that no headline total settles a price argument. You cannot conclude that one country earns more per room, per guest or per night from these figures.

Spending per visitor is not a rate comparison. It mixes length of stay, transport, excursions, package structure and the mix of accommodation types in the country. Greece's EUR 96.6 per overnight is a national average across every kind of accommodation, not a hotel's room rate, and it is in euros. Spain's EUR 1,392 per tourist includes international transport outside package tours, money that never reaches a Spanish front desk.

Before arguing about price, check Türkiye's own per-visitor figures, covered in our reading of TÜİK's per-visitor numbers, and the movement of the real effective exchange rate, covered in our article on whether Türkiye is getting more expensive. Those are the two numbers that describe your market directly.

Write what each figure includes and let the reader draw the conclusion. A verdict such as earning less, or beating another destination, is not supported by any of these releases. If a currency conversion is unavoidable, print the rate, its source and its date beside the converted number.

Six checks before you quote a comparison#

What to do next#

Next time a total lands on the table, ask for the publisher, the period, the population counted and the currency rate date before you respond, then run the six checks above. The four figures are not a ranking; they are four instruments, and the only honest comparison is one that states what each instrument measures. Public data. No endorsement implied.