Poles and Greeks: Europe's thriftiest tourists

Source: Schengen Visa info

Poles are the most tight-fisted tourists in Europe, spending around €185 per person in other countries while visiting for tourism purposes, totalling up to €7.2 billion in 2022.

Data from the World Tourism Organisation (UNTWO) show that Poles’ international tourism expenditure has changed between 2019 and 2022, indicating that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted this nationality’s desire to spend for outbound travel.

In 2019, the expenditure levels for Poles stood at €8.8 billion, down from €9.1 billion spent in 2018, which was a record-breaking amount recorded between 2011 and 2022. The most popular destinations for Poles are Italy, Germany, the UK, Turkiye and Croatia, while Albanian media reveals that Polish tourists have shown an increased interest in visiting this country throughout 2023, with 126,795 Polish visitors.

Greek Tourists Are Europe’s Second Stingiest

Greeks are the second most stingiest tourists in Europe, with an expenditure of €193 per person when travelling abroad, totalling €1.9 billion spent in 2022. Similarly to Poles, Greeks had higher expenditure levels in 2019 compared to 2022 levels, with the spending amounts dropping from €2.9 billion to €850 million in 2020 and peaking at €1.9 billion in 2022.

Another thing that Greeks have in common with Poles is their interest in visiting Albania. This country is the first outbound destination for Greek nationals travelling abroad, followed by Turkiye, Italy, Bulgaria and the UK, as a report from Global Data’s Travel and Tourism in Greece reveals.

Hungarians, Bulgarians & Croatians Also Don’t Like Spending Too Much When Travelling
The list of European countries with the lowest expenditure levels for outbound tourism is further concluded with Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia. Tourists of these three countries in 2022 spent, on average, between €236 and €374 while travelling abroad.

In total, Hungarians had an expenditure of €2.2 billion, with €236 spent per capita, indicating that a Hungarian tourist spent less than €250 when travelling for tourism. Europe’s third most frugal nationality likes visiting Croatia, Austria, Italy, Romania, as well as the United Kingdom.

Bulgarians spent around €239 per capita, while in total €1.5 billion was taken from the national budget for tourism purposes in 2022. In general, Bulgarians spent their vacations in Greece, Turkey, Romania as well as Hungary and the United Kingdom.

Croatians, who are very familiar with tourism, as their beautiful islands bring millions of tourists every year, spent a total of €1.4 billion in outbound tourism in 2022. This indicates that €374 was spent per capita. However, when it comes to travelling, Croatians are fond of visiting other European countries like Italy, with which there is a geographical proximity, France, Slovenia, Austria, and Germany.