BoG: March Travel Surplus Down, Incoming Russian Travelers to Greece Grow by 523.6%

The balance of travel services dropped in March to 62 million euros from 64 million euros recorded in the same month last year, the Bank of Greece (BoG) said on Monday.

According to provisional data released by the central bank, March travel receipts grew by 8.2 percent year-on-year to 221 million euros, compared to 204 million euros in the corresponding month of 2015. Travel payments also increased by 13.7 percent to 159 million euros against 139 million euros in 2015. The central bank cites a 2.5 percent increase in the number of arrivals and a 5.6 percent rise in average spending per trip for the figures.

For the January-March 2016 period, the balance of travel services showed a surplus of 90 million euros, up by 13.7 percent, compared to 80 million euros in the same period last year. Travel receipts dropped slightly mainly due to a 6.2 percent drop in arrivals, with average expenditure per trip up by 6.5 percent.

Receipts by EU travelers rose by 7.2 percent to 110 million euros against 103 million euros last year. Receipts from Germany fell by 15.2 percent to 19 million euros, while those from France grew by 27.9 percent to 7 million euros, from the United Kingdom up by 40.0 percent and from Russia by 179.5 percent to 8 million euros.

Meanwhile, the number of inbound travelers for March rose by 2.5 percent year-on-year to 629 thousand. The number of German visitors grew by 14.5 percent, French visitors rose by 28.8 percent, arrivals from the UK increased by 37.3 percent while those from Russia escalated by 523.6 percent.

In the first three months of the year, the number of incoming travelers dropped by 6.2 percent.