In August, tourist intensity in Greece soars to 26.9 overnight stays per inhabitant on the South Aegean islands. And it also grows to 24.9 on the Ionian Islands. And on peak summer days in August, there are more visitors on the islands than there are residents.
Greece – and in particular the South Aegean – carries the greatest tourist burden on the European continent, as reflected in the official reports of Eurostat.
The categories of “tourist intensity” (nights spent per 1,000 inhabitants) and “tourist density” (nights spent per square kilometer) reveal the concentration of visitors in an extremely limited geographical area.
According to the comparative data of Eurostat, the South Aegean Region ranks first in the European Union in tourist intensity, recording 126,817 nights spent per 1,000 inhabitants – almost 127 nights spent per permanent resident of the island complex.
This figure is almost 19 times higher than the European average, which stands at only 6,725 overnight stays.
