Museums and archaeological sites in Greece recorded a 5.4% decline in visitor numbers in May 2026 compared with May 2025, with 2,378,024 visitors, down from 2,512,827 a year earlier.
Visitor numbers also fell at the Acropolis, by 2.7% at the museum and 8.6% at the archaeological site. The National Archaeological Museum recorded a 9.8% decline, with 63,024 visitors, while visits to the Heraklion Archaeological Museum in Crete fell by 12.3%, to 38,899.
One possible factor could be a decline in arrivals from specific markets following the start of the US-Israel war with Iran.
Overall, visitor numbers in the first five months of 2026 fell by 5.7% compared with the same period in 2025, from 7,226,333 to 6,811,646. Visits to archaeological sites alone fell by 8.4%, from 4,748,156 to 4,349,311. At the Acropolis, visitor numbers declined by 9.4% over the same period compared with a year earlier.
However, as Kathimerini reports, since the figures cover only the first five months of the year, there is cautious optimism that visitor numbers at museums and archaeological sites could ultimately increase once data for the rest of the year are included.
One possible explanation for the decline could be lower arrivals from specific countries following the start of the US-Israel war with Iran.
Source: Kathimerini
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