A Greek visa scheme for Turkish visitors has driven 25% growth in Turkish arrivals to the Hellenic Republic since 2024, Bank of Greece data shows. The so-called “door visa” (kapi vizesi) allows Turkish guests to obtain visas on arrival, giving them seven-day access to a suite of Greek Islands amid growing demand for European destinations among Turkish travellers keen to avoid their own country’s surging market.
When it started in April 2024, the scheme initially opened up 10 Greek islands for Turkish visa-on-arrival tourists. That number was expanded to 12 islands in 2025, a year during which Turkish visitors to Greece increased by 300,000 to hit 1.5 million, with Turkish travel agents crediting the scheme for the growth.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis agrees, noting the visa programme’s “particularly successful” outcomes and indicating it would continue, both as an economic driver and a soft power play helping to attenuate historic tensions between the Aegean neighbours. Maritime borders in the region have long been the subject of disputes and the islands made accessible by the scheme (Chios, Kalymnos, Kastellorizo, Kos, Leros, Lesvos, Limnos, Patmos, Rhodes, Samos, Samothraki and Symi) are all situated close to the Turkish coast.
“In the last year alone, hundreds of thousands of Turkish friends have travelled to the Greek islands, bringing our peoples closer together,” Mitsotakis said.
Despite some teething problems in the form of long waits for authorisation on entry, the visa-on-arrival scheme gives Turkish citizens an alternative to the handful of mainly Balkan nations (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia) that also offer visa-free European travel. It also comes at a time when Schengen zone visa applications entail long waits, increased costs, and potential refusal for Turks.
Türkiye’s potential for joining the European Union has been a major bone of contention in the bloc’s immigration and security debate. European lawmakers have criticised Ankara over its lack of an independent judiciary, pressure on journalists and political opponents, its closeness with Russia, non-recognition of the Republic of Cyprus and refusal to engage in dialogue.
The seven-day door visa cannot be extended and does not give Turkish citizens full Schengen access, preventing onward travel to mainland Greece and other Schengen countries.
Greece is not a stranger to controversial border policy, having unilaterally said it would suspend the EU’s new Entry/Exit System early in 2026 due to the disruptive effect of the biometric process on arrivals from the UK, a major source market. Air arrivals for the first half of 2026 reached 10.7 million passengers, a 3.8% increase over 2025, according to data from the Institute of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (INSETE).
