With strong pre-bookings from key markets and increased air connections abroad, 2025 begins for Greek tourism, which is traditionally focused on the summer season.
However, new emerging markets in South and East Asia, the Arab countries, and Latin America, with greater growth potential, which is now developing speeds in outbound tourism, may in the near future be the key to quality tourism for many destinations, including our country.
According to Skyscanner’s travel trends survey for 2025, the markets of India, the UAE, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and S. Korea will be the world’s fastest-growing travel market in 2025.
Travelers from India, the UAE, and Brazil are showing the strongest year-on-year growth in their travel, while most Europeans and North Americans are more conservative, indicating that they will continue to travel. In addition, European and American travelers are planning smaller increases, wanting to keep their spending at a steady level, while a similar trend is also seen in their intention to spend on accommodation abroad, which is set to stabilize or even decrease year-on-year.
The “Golden Five” of emerging markets
In contrast to the restrained image of Europeans and Americans, 70% of respondents from the United Arab Emirates say they will travel more than in 2024, 54% that they will spend more on flights for trips abroad, and 44% that they will spend more on accommodation abroad.
Great momentum is also observed in the Indian market, where 66% will travel more than last year, 58% will spend more on flights to destinations abroad, and 45% more on accommodation abroad.
Brazilians follow, with 65% planning more trips than last year, 50% spending more on international flights and 42% on accommodation abroad, and Saudis with 60% traveling more and 51% and 40% spending more on flights and accommodation abroad.
Finally, 53% of respondents from South Korea plan more trips than last year, with 44% expecting to spend more on international flights and 40% on accommodation abroad.
The individual characteristics of these markets are considered beneficial for the development of quality tourism in Greece. Brazilians prefer to travel in the winter (December-February), while the Gulf and South Korean markets prefer the summer season. Saudi Arabia and the UAE show strong interest in long-term investments in Greece, while Korea and Brazil focus mainly on cultural and thematic tourism. The Saudi and UAE markets in particular prefer luxury services, premium accommodations, and experiences, while India is expected to emerge as one of the fastest-growing outbound tourism markets worldwide in the coming years.
However, unlike the Saudi and UAE markets, South Korea, Brazil, and India do not have direct air connections with our country. It is recalled that Greece attempted to open up to India in February, while yesterday, Monday, an agreement was reached at the 1st Supreme Council for Strategic Cooperation between Greece and Saudi Arabia in key areas of politics and the economy, including tourism.
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