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Ignoring the decades of political and military friction echoing across the Aegean, thousands of Turkish vacationers are flocking to Greek islands to share fresh, underpriced seafood alongside their neighbors, delivering a massive economic boost to Greece's tourism industry while actively boycotting the eye-watering prices of homegrown hotspots like Bodrum and Kas.
More than 1.6 million Turkish visitors traveled from Türkiye to Greek islands between the launch of a visa-on-arrival scheme in April 2024 and July 2026, with their trips generating more than $1 billion in estimated tourism spending and visa fees.
The figures, based on Türkiye Today’s calculations using data from Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Bank of Greece, show a sharp jump in travel after the scheme takes effect, as the €60 ($69.2) door visa offers Turkish travelers a faster and simpler alternative to the regular Schengen visa process.
According to the calculations, the journey to Greece was already picking up before the door visa scheme was introduced, with the number of Turkish visitors nearly doubling in 2023 before reaching a new peak in 2024.
In 2022, 211,287 Turkish visitors traveled to the Greek islands through Turkish ports. That number climbed to 413,939 in 2023, a 95.9% increase in a single year, as broader post-pandemic tourism recovery and strong demand for short trips pushed cross-Aegean travel higher.
The visa-on-arrival scheme was introduced in April 2024, and the increase accelerated. A total of 654,910 Turkish visitors traveled to the islands in 2024, up 58.2% from 2023. Of those, 31,448 traveled before the scheme took effect, while 623,462 arrived after its launch.
The number remained high in 2025, when 642,179 Turkish visitors traveled to the islands, just 1.9% below the 2024 peak and 55.1% higher than in 2023, before the scheme was launched. In the first seven months of 2026, 403,333 Turkish visitors traveled to the islands, up 22.8% from the 328,405 recorded during the same period in 2025.
Tourism spending, on the other hand, puts estimated Turkish tourist expenditure at €428.1 million ($494 million) for April-December 2024, €202.9 million in 2025 and €204.2 million in the first seven months of 2026, totaling €835.2 million, based on calculations using visitor numbers and average spending per Turkish visitor from Bank of Greece figures.
The surge in Turkish visitors has become an increasingly important source of tourism revenue for Greece’s Eastern Aegean islands, adding to a broader rise in tourism earnings nationwide. In 2025, Turkish tourists generated €544 million in travel receipts across Greece, while the country’s total travel receipts reached €23.6 billion.
The growth continued into 2026, with travel receipts rising 14.8% to €8.8 billion in the first half, as inbound visitors increased 15.4% to 13.5 million, according to the Bank of Greece.
The special visa program for Turkish citizens has its roots in an earlier EU-backed arrangement that allowed Turkish travelers to visit selected Greek islands through simplified short-stay procedures. The current scheme was introduced in a new form on April 1, 2024, initially covering 10 Greek islands, as part of efforts to make travel between Türkiye and Greece easier.
Under the scheme, eligible Turkish citizens and their families can obtain a short-stay visa valid for up to seven days to participating islands. The visa costs €60 and offers a simpler alternative to the regular Schengen visa process for short island trips.
The program is built around short ferry routes connecting Türkiye’s Aegean coast to the Greek islands, with services running from Cesme in Izmir to Chios, Kusadasi and Seferihisar in Izmir to Samos, Ayvalik in Balikesir and Dikili in Izmir to Lesvos, Bodrum and Turgutreis in Mugla to Kos, Marmaris and Fethiye in Mugla to Rhodes, Marmaris and Datca in Mugla to Symi, and Kas in Antalya to Kastellorizo.
Among the departure points, Cesme recorded the most traffic with 137,197 visitors in the first seven months of 2026, followed by Kusadasi with 56,360 and Ayvalik with 50,138. Marmaris ranked next with 42,238 visitors.
The crossings are generally short, with Cesme-Chios taking roughly 20 to 45 minutes, Kusadasi-Samos around 30 minutes to 1.5 hours and Bodrum-Kos about 20 to 30 minutes. Marmaris-Rhodes takes around an hour, while Ayvalik-Lesvos takes roughly 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.
Travelers submit the required documents before departure, pass through Turkish passport control, and complete Greek border checks upon arrival. The door visa is limited to the participating island and does not allow unrestricted travel around Greece or the wider Schengen area.
The program has since expanded to 12 islands, including Chios, Kalymnos, Kastellorizo, Kos, Lesvos, Leros, Limnos, Rhodes, Samos, Symi, Patmos and Samothraki. After extensions in 2025 and March 2026, the scheme is now set to remain in place until April 2027.
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