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Tips are expected to reach €120 million this year during the holiday season in Greece.

According to Kathimerini, this amount is based on the assumption that 50% of foreign tourists will leave a tip of at least 10 € to those who service them during their stay in Greece.

This means that for every million more or less tourists visiting Greece every year, the overall amount worth of tipping in the tourism industry goes up or down by €5 million. If one adds on top of that the tips left by the Greeks, the overall tipping revenue wells further up.

Both the hotel industry, and international organisations are appealing for more generous tipping. In 2014, a large international hotel chain launched a campaign asking holiday makers to leave tips for maids in envelopes.

The American Hotel and Lodging Association came up with a manual listing the recommended tip rates for various services. For example, a $1-2 tip to the bus driver goes with a free shuttle service, car parking fetches $1-5, carrying luggage to a visitor’s hotel room - $1-5, cleaning - $1-5 a day, while bartenders and waiters deserve 15-20% of the bill.

Americans are the top tippers, followed by the Germans. According to a survey of an international tourism organisation, 3 out of every 5 American tourists and 1 out of every 2 Germans leave tips.

The President of the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers, Yannis Retsos, said that it is natural for incomes of tourism employees to increase in good years and decline in bad years. According to him, every 1 million holidaymakers creates an additional 50,000 jobs in tourism.