Soaring Travel Receipts for Greece, Up by 41% in Jan-Feb

The Acropolis in Athens.

Travel receipts rose by 41.1 percent or 129 million euros in the first two months of the year driven by a 32.0 percent leap in average spending per trip and a 7.0 percent increase in inbound traveler flows, according to provisional data released this week by the Bank of Greece.

According to central bank figures, in January and February, travel receipts came to a total of 441 million euros, driven by receipts from EU residents, which came to 241 million euros, and by non-EU travelers to 200 million euros.

More specifically, German travelers increased spending by 19.4 percent to 49 million euros, the French by 68.1 percent to 16 million euros, the Britons by 96.8 percent to 43 million euros, the Russians by 60.0 percent to 10 million euros, and visitors from the US by 58.3 percent to 28 million euros.

Travel receipts in February, meanwhile, rose by 29.6 percent to 209 million euros, from 161 million euros in February 2018, with travel payments up by 10.7 percent or 158 million euros against 143 million euros in the same month last year. The positive performance is attributed to a 24.7 percent increase in average expenditure per trip and a 4.0 percent rise in inbound tourist traffic.

Meanwhile, the balance of travel services in February showed a surplus of 51 million euros, compared with a surplus of 19 million euros in February 2018, with the balance of travel services for the January-February period marking a surplus of 117 million euros, up from 32 million euros in the same period of 2018.