Splashed across the world’s press due to its dire financial crisis, Greece will welcome the news that the country generated more revenue through tourism in August this year than it did during the same month a year ago.

Evidence that Greece is still a hot favourite with foreigners, a report by the Bank of Greece in October showed that the country saw a 6.5 per cent year-on-year rise in tourism receipts – expenditure by foreign visitors – in August 2011.

Visiting foreigners brought €2.378 billion into Greece in August, with visitors spending an average of €709 per trip, up 0.2 per cent year-on-year. The total number of travellers visiting Greece in August was 3.353 million, a
6.2 per cent hike year-on-year. Tourism receipts from European Union residents grew 8.7 per cent year-on-year, with revenue from
non-EU travellers up 0.9 per cent. That said, while revenue from German tourists rose 26.4 per cent in August, that coming from British travellers fell by 11.4 per cent.

The Greek island of Crete remains a favourite with second homeowners and expat retirees, with the Chania area in the west of the island especially popular. To search properties in Greece, visit the Greece listings on Rightmove Overseas.

To understand the full step-by-step process to buying a property in Greece, collect The Overseas Guides Company’s ‘Greece Property Buying Guide’