Camping has been experiencing a fresh burst of popularity in Greece since the pandemic, a trend that is confirmed by camping gear sales as well as by tourism data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

According to online retailer Skroutz, sales for camping gear – including tents, inflatable sleeping mattresses, coolers and lanterns – shot up 48% between 2023 and 2025, while revenue rose an impressive 62%.

More specifically, in 2024, tent sales increased by 31% against 2023 and remained stable in 2025. Further market growth was driven primarily by camping accessories and equipment, with the strongest sales growth seen in camping lighting products (15%), portable coolers (14%) and inflatable sleeping pads (6%).

While the bulk of sales on the platform continues to be during the summer months, demand has become increasingly strong throughout the rest of the year as well. According to Skroutz data for January-May, sales increased 24% in the five-month period in 2025 compared to 2024, a positive trend that carried into 2026, with sales rising by a further 13%.

Consumer interest also remains strong in terms of search activity. From January to June, searches with the keyword “camping” had already exceeded the total number of searches recorded throughout all of 2025 by 193%.

Speaking to Kathimerini, the president of the Panhellenic Camping Association, Konstantinos Demiris, said that over the past two years, there has been a marked increase in the number of people – particularly Greeks – choosing camping for their summer vacations. He said that 2026 is expected to be an even stronger year and estimated that overnight stays have increased by approximately 20% compared to three years ago.

Demiris’ observations are backed by ELSTAT, which reported that in 2024 – the most recent year for which data is available – campgrounds posted their strongest performance in the past 15 years, with 2,191,364 overnight stays, of which 1,317,772 were by international visitors. The 2 million overnight-stay threshold was first crossed in 2019, when campgrounds recorded 2,109,923 overnight stays (940,956 by Greek visitors and 1,168,967 by international tourists). However, the pandemic brought this momentum to an abrupt halt, and it was not until 2022 that overnight stays returned to comparable levels. In 2020, they had fallen to just 899,117, comprising 592,650 by Greek visitors and 306,467 by international tourists.

Another indication of camping’s revival is the number of campgrounds currently in operation. According to Demiris, there are 296 across Greece today, and while this is significantly lower than in previous decades, a wave of closures that continued until about three years ago appears to have come to an end. And that is not the only encouraging sign.

“There is a growing interest in developing new campsites. Many investors are exploring opportunities in the sector,” he said. “This is a positive development because it will lead to more investment and create more jobs. It could also be the first step toward having campgrounds operating all year round, as they do in Spain.”

According to Demiris, the Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece is the country’s top camping destination right now, followed by the area of Platamonas at the foot of Mount Olympus, and the Peloponnese. “Halkidiki ranks first largely because of the high number of visitors from the Balkans,” he explained, a view that is supported by ELSTAT data.

Central Macedonia was by far the region with the highest number of overnight stays in 2024, recording 924,575. Bulgarian visitors accounted for the largest share of international campers. In addition, both Romania and Serbia ranked among the top 10 countries of origin for visitors who chose camping for their vacations.

Originally published at ekathimerini.com