Greece Sees Tourist Arrivals Rise 27.1% in Jan-May

The number of foreign tourist arrivals to Greece in the first five months of the year rose by 27.1 percent year-on-year, according to data released on Wednesday by the Bank of Greece.

Greece welcomed some 4.5 million foreign visitors from January to May 2015, the data showed.

The increase in arrivals resulted to travel receipts increasing by 15 percent year-on-year to 2.2 billion euros. This development is mainly due to the 24.3 percent increase in the spending of EU-28 residents, which amounted to 1.3 million euros, during the January-May period. Also, receipts of residents of non-EU countries amounted to 788 million euros, which is an increase of 4.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

Receipts from Germany rose by 20 percent to 318 million euros, while those from France rose by 14.2 percent to 177 million euros. Receipts from the United Kingdom also increased by 68.1 percent to 325 million euros. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia dropped by 58 percent to 50 million euros, while receipts from the United States rose by 15.1 percent to 156 million euros.