Bank of Greece: Revenue from Travel Receipts Up 10.1% in 2018

Photo © GTP

With travel receipts last December recording an impressive 40 percent growth, the total amount of Greek tourism revenue in 2018 reached an all time high of over 16 billion euros, with an increase of 10.1 percent compared to 2017.

According to provisional data by the Bank of Greece, the rise in travel receipts in 2018 reflected a 10.8 percent increase in inbound traveler flows to over 30 million, up from over 27 million in 2017.

In December 2018, the 40.0 percent year-on-year rise in revenue followed increased receipts from residents of the EU28, up by 4.4 percent and receipts from outside the EU28 up by 90.9 percent.

In 2018, travel receipts totaled 16.11 billion euros – up 10.1 percent compared to 2017. The rise was driven by an 11.9 percent increase in receipts from residents of the EU28, which came to some 11 billion euros, and by a 7.3 percent rise in receipts from residents outside the EU28 to some 4.6 billion euros.

Last year, receipts from Germany increased by 16.1 percent, while receipts from France decreased by 3.8 percent. Receipts from the United Kingdom also decreased, by 5.9 percent. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia fell by 19.2 percent, whereas receipts from the United States rose by 28.1 percent to over a million euros.

Regarding the 10.8 percent rise in the number of inbound visitors in 2018, the Bank of Greece’s data showed that the number of visitors from Germany increased by 18.2 percent, as did the number of visitors from France, by 7.3 percent. The number of visitors from the United Kingdom decreased by 2.0 percent.

With regards to non-EU28 countries, the number of visitors from Russia fell by 11.6 percent, whereas the number of visitors from the United States rose by 26.9 percent.

The Bank of Greece’s provisional data also revealed that the balance of travel services in 2018 showed a surplus of some 13.9 billion euros, up from a surplus of 12.7 billion euros in 2017.