The island of Crete features high at the preferences of foreign visitors as one of Greece’s most attractive destinations. One in five tourists arriving in the country, spend their vacations in Crete, according to a report on the regional distribution of annual tourism in Greece, issued by the Research Institute for Tourism (ITEP) on behalf of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels. The report’s data show that 20.1 percent of the country’s total tourist arrivals last year (that is over 3.6 million tourists) have “landed” on Crete, while this season, the percentage is expected to rise even further.

The report also revealed that the biggest money spent by tourists in Greece last year was in the south Aegean region, mainly in Rhodes Island. Nearly 3.49 billion euros was spent on the island, a figure that represents the 29.8 percent of the country’s total expenditure.

According to the ITEP’s recent data, tourists spend an average of 519,8 euros each during their stay to Attica, that is 20.43 percent less than the average cost of a tourist visiting the country, and in the Ionian islands, foreign visitors spend an average of 9.6 nights stay, that is a 6.91 percent higher to the average of nights a tourist spends in the country.