Tourism in Greece appears to have benefited this year from a period of relative political stabiilty and a reluctance on the part of international travelers to visit nearby destinations like Turkey and Egypt due to security concerns.
Officials in Greece's tourism ministry announced this week that international arrivals were up 7% in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in 2015. By the end of this year, more than 27 million foreign visitors are expected to have spent time in the country—a new record.
The tourism numbers are a rare economic bright spot for Greece, which has been stuck since 2008 in a debt crisis that has resulted in three huge international bailouts and strict austerity measures on the country's budget.