- INSETE study highlights India and China as the fastest-growing long-haul markets
- USA, Canada, and Australia remain stable but slower growing
- Greece gains ranking in India and China during 2025
- Long-haul visitors linked to higher spending
- Industry again calls for strategy, infrastructure, and coordination
A new study by INSETE confirms what tourism professionals have been saying for years: Greece remains an attractive destination in long-haul markets, though attracting visitors from the other side of the planet still requires more than optimism and press releases.
According to the report, India and China are expected to be the most dynamic markets for Greek tourism over the next 12 months, while the United States, Canada, and Australia continue to provide a stable but less spectacular flow of visitors.
The study examines the perception of the “Brand Greece” in five major long-haul markets — the United States, Canada, China, India, and Australia — which together accounted for roughly 11 percent of total inbound tourism revenue in 2024, a figure that makes them too important to ignore and too unpredictable to rely on without a plan.
During 2025, Greece improved its ranking in India by 9 positions and in China by 3, while remaining stable in the United States and losing 1 position in Canada and Australia, a result that experts describe as encouraging, though not quite enough to allow anyone to relax.
Air connections, as always, are part of the explanation. When flights increase, interest increases. When flights disappear, so does interest.
Long-Haul Travelers Spend More, Which Is Why Everyone Wants Them
The renewed focus on distant markets is not accidental, as tourism revenue depends heavily on visitors who stay longer, spend more, and are less likely to argue about the price of coffee.
According to the study, Greece currently ranks:
- 11th in travel preference in Australia
- 12th in Canada
- 13th in the United States
- 27th in India
- 29th in China
The numbers may not look impressive at first glance, but the differences between competing destinations are often small, sometimes only one percentage point, which allows every new airline route to be described as a strategic breakthrough.
Compared with competing Mediterranean destinations — Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, Croatia, and Turkey — Greece remains in the upper half of preferences, though rarely at the top, a position that requires constant promotion, investment, and explanations about why the infrastructure will be ready soon.
In the Australian market, Greece ranks third among Mediterranean destinations and fourth in the United States, Canada, China, and India, results that are good enough to justify optimism but not to eliminate concern.
Strategy Still Needed, Which Means More Meetings
Commenting on the findings, INSETE General Director Ilias Kikilias noted that the increase in long-haul tourism is directly linked to higher spending per visitor, making these markets particularly attractive for the future.
“As INSETE has recently highlighted, strengthening the average expenditure per visitor is directly connected to the strategic opening of the country to long-haul markets. The latest findings confirm that the brand ‘Greece’ maintains a strong presence in the United States, Canada, and Australia, while showing rapid growth in markets such as India and China. Under conditions of increasing international competition, both from strong European destinations such as Italy, Spain, and France, and from dynamic destinations outside Europe, it becomes clear that the tourism ecosystem needs planning, effective destination management, and adequate infrastructure.”
In other words, Greece is popular, competition is strong, and the solution continues to involve better coordination between the public sector, the private sector, and anyone else who can attend a meeting.
Long Flights, Long Plans, and the Same Old Problem
The study concludes that long-haul markets offer significant opportunities, provided the country manages to combine promotion with real improvements in infrastructure, governance, and long-term planning. This combination sounds simple in theory and complicated in practice.
India and China may indeed represent the fastest-growing markets for the next year.
Turning that growth into real arrivals, however, still depends on airports, roads, planning, cooperation, and the rare ability to finish projects before the next tourism season begins.
For Greek tourism, the future once again appears promising. It just requires everything to work at the same time.
