BoG: Greece Welcomed 23.6m Tourists in 2015

The number of inbound visitors to Greece last year increased by 7.1 percent to 23.6 million, compared to 2014, according to provisional data released by the Bank of Greece (BoG) on Monday. Travel receipts in 2015 rose by six percent to 14.1 billion euros.

Arrivals from within the EU28 stood at 14.9 million (up 13 percent compared with 2014), whereas arrivals from outside the EU28 dropped by 1.8 percent to 8.6 million.

Arrivals from the euro area rose by 9.8 percent and those from the non-euro area EU28 countries by 17.1 percent. More specifically, arrivals from Germany and France increased by 14.3 percent and 4 percent to 2.8 million and 1.5 million respectively, while arrivals from the United Kingdom also rose by 14.7 percent to 2.3 million.

In regards to the non-EU28 countries, arrivals from Russia fell by 59 percent to 513 thousand, while those from the United States increased by 26.8 percent to 750 thousand.

According to the BoG’s provisional data, Greece’s travel services balance recorded a surplus for 2015, up by 7.5 percent to 12.1 billion euros, compared to 11.3 billion euros in 2014.

The central bank attributes the figures to a 6 percent increase in travel receipts by 801 million euros and to a 2.5 percent drop in travel payments by 51 million euros.