Greece’s Travel Balance Up 8.5% in January-June

Greece’s balance of travel services in January-June 2017 posted a surplus of 3,147 million euros, 8.5 percent more compared to the same period last year, according to final data released by the Bank of Greece on Tuesday. During the first six months of 2016, the country’s travel balance of payments recorded a surplus of 2,901 million euros.

According to the Bank of Greece, this development is attributed primarily to an increase of 236 million euros or 6.2 percent in travel receipts and, to a lesser extent, to a decrease of 10 million euros or 1.1 percent in travel payments. The rise in travel receipts in January-June 2017 over the same period of 2016 was driven by an increase in average expenditure per trip by about 25 euros or 5.3 percent (January-June 2017: 476 euros, January-June 2016: 451 euros), as well as by a 0.8 percent rise in arrivals of non-resident inbound visitors.

Specifically, expenditure per overnight stay increased slightly (by 0.8 percent) to 68 euros, while the average length of stay remained virtually unchanged year-on-year at 7 nights. The number of overnight stays increased by 5.3 percent to 59,859 thousand in January-June 2017, from 56,868 thousand in January-June 2016.