Greece Posts 13.8% Q1 Rise in Tourism Revenue

Revenue from Greek tourism increased by 13.8 percent year-on-year to 557 million euros during the January-March period, the Bank of Greece (BoG) said on Tuesday.

According to BoG, the rise in travel receipts was driven mainly by a 12.8 percent year-on-year increase in inbound traveler flows to Greece to 1.79 million. The rise was also attributed to the increase of 1.3 percent or 4 euros in the average expenditure per trip.

Specifically, during the first three months of the year, visitor flows through Greek airports increased by 8.9 percent, as did arrivals through road border-crossing points by 18.6 percent. In the period under review, the number of visitors from within the EU28 rose by 12 percent year-on-year to 1,071 thousand, as did the number of visitors from outside the EU28, by 13.9 percent to 725 thousand. Visitors from within the euro area rose by 15.8 percent, while visitors from the non-euro area EU28 countries increased by 8.7 percent.

The number of visitors to Greece from France rose by 35.6 percent to 39 thousand, as did the number of visitors from Germany, by 26.9 percent to 196 thousand. Visitors from the United Kingdom increased by 11 percent to 101 thousand. Turning to non-EU28 countries, the number of visitors from Russia dropped by 36.6 percent to 16 thousand, while the number of visitors from the United States also fell by 13 percent to 71 thousand.

Travel receipts in Q1

The rise in Greece’s tourism revenue during the January-March period is attributed to increases in travel receipts from within the EU28 by 18.9 percent to 318 million euros and in receipts from outside the EU28 by 8.4 percent to 232 million euros. In particular, receipts from euro area residents increased by 13.2 percent to 204 million euros, as did receipts from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries, by 30.8 percent to 114 million euros.

Specifically, receipts from France rose by 8.9 percent to 16 million euros, while receipts from Germany increased by 25.7 percent to 72 million euros. Receipts from the UK also increased by 24.8 percent to 42 million euros. Regarding non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia dropped by 35.3 percent to 9 million euros, while receipts from the US also decreased by 35.3 percent to 34 million euros.