Inbound Visitors to Greece Rise 8% in Jan-Sep 2017

Greece saw an eight percent increase in the number of non-resident inbound visitors during the first nine months of 2017, the Bank of Greece said on Wednesday.

According to final data released by the Bank of Greece, the number of inbound visitors in January-September 2017 reached 25,914 thousand, up from 23,984 thousand during the same period in 2016.

In particular, visitors from Germany increased by 15 percent to 2,915 thousand, as did visitors from France, by 8.8 percent to 1,290 thousand. Visitors from the United Kingdom also increased, by 6.9 percent to 2,625 thousand.

Moreover, turning to non-EU28 countries, the number of visitors from Russia rose by 1.1 percent to 531 thousand, as did the number of visitors from the United States, by 11.6 percent to 715 thousand.

Travel receipts

Travel receipts in Greece during the January-September 2017 totalled 13,021 million euros, up 10.5 percent relative to the same period of 2016.

According to the data, receipts from euro area residents increased by 11.4 percent year-on-year to 5,582 million euros, while receipts from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries also rose, by 2.4 percent to 3,254 million euros.

Five Greek regions accounted for the bulk (88.9 percent) of total receipts, namely: the Southern Aegean (3,287 million euros), Crete (2,922 million euros), the Ionian Islands (1,706 million euros), Central Macedonia (1,677 million euros) and Attica (1,666 million euros). The remaining regions (Thessaly, the Peloponnese, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Epirus, the Northern Aegean, Western Greece, Central Greece and Western Macedonia) together accounted for 1,409 million euros.

Cruise travel

The Bank of Greece data also showed that the period under review saw 2,685 cruise ship arrivals to Greece (January-September 2016: 3,400) and 3,761 thousand cruise passenger visits (January-September 2016: 4,181 thousand).

According to the data, 90.3 percent of all cruise passengers were transit visitors, with an average of 1.5 stopovers at Greek ports of call, unchanged from January-September 2016.