Greece registered 98.3 million overnight stays in tourist accommodations in 2014, of which 77.3 million were made by foreign visitors and 21 million by permanent residents, according to data released by the European Union’s Statistics Office (Eurostat) on Thursday. The country also recorded the fourth largest increase in overnight stays last year compared to 2013 with 6.9%, after Latvia (11.1%), Belgium (7.2%) and Portugal (7.1%). The two Mediterranean island member-states, Malta and Cyprus, topped the list of overnight stays from foreign visitors for 2014 with 96% and 94% respectively, followed by Croatia with 92%, Luxembourg with 88%, and Greece with 79%. The lowest percentages were in Romania with 18%, Poland with 19% and Germany with 20%. In absolute numbers, Spain and Italy had the largest number of overnight stays from foreign visitors last year, with 260 million or 21% of the total number of stays and 184 million or 15% of stays respectively. (source: ana-mpa)