Greek Tourism Boosts Economy, Receipts Rise

Photo © GTP

Arrivals to Greece rose by 21.9 percent to over 20 million in the first 10 months of 2014, boosting revenue from tourism by 10.6 percent to 13,013 million euros compared to the same period in 2013, the Bank of Greece said on Tuesday.

According to the central bank, Germany, France and the U.K. are leading the way with the number of arrivals up by 8.8 percent, 27.4 percent and 12.9 percent respectively.

Arrivals from Russia dropped by 8.1 percent with 1,235 thousand visitors whereas arrivals from the U.S. increased by 29.2 percent to 562 thousand travellers.

Average spending per trip decreased by 9 percent.

The central bank data revealed net revenue from travel services contributed 61.4 percent to total net revenues from services and offset the 73.1 percent trade deficit.

Tourism revenue from euro zone residents came to 5.229 million euros, increased by 10.4 percent, while receipts from residents of EU countries outside the euro area rose by 23.7 percent.

Revenue from Germany dropped by 3.1 percent to 1.8 million euros, but increased from France by 27.7 percent to 1.1 million euros. Revenue from the U.K. came to 1.6 million euros, an 18.4 percent rise.

Receipts from Russia dropped by 13.2 percent to 1.1 million euros, while revenue from the U.S. rose by 11 percent to 604 million euros.

In the meantime, incoming travel movement for January-October 2014 increased by 21.9 percent to 20,828 thousand visitors versus 17,082 thousand in the corresponding period of 2013.