Greece 9-month Tourism Revenues Closer to 2019 at €15.5bn

Tourism revenues in Greece for the January-September period reached 15.5 billion euros fast approaching pre-pandemic 2019 levels but not exceeding them, the Bank of Greece said this week.

More specifically, for the nine-month period to September 2022, travel receipts increased by 78.3 percent to 15.6 billion euros compared to the same period of 2021, but down by 3.1 percent compared to 16.1 billion euros in 2019.

Incoming arrivals rose by 103.9 percent in the January-September period over 2021 to 23,686.7 thousand but were down by 12.1 percent against pre-Covid 2019. Average expenditure per trip increased by 10.7 percent in the nine-month period.

According to central bank data, September revenues were up by 35.1 percent reaching 2.85 billion euros compared to 2.88 billion euros in 2019 and 2.11 billion euros in 2021. Revenues were still down however by 1.1 percent over 2019 levels for the same month. Average spending per trip rose by 11.3 percent.

Santorini, Greece.

Inbound traveler flows in September rose by 52.3 percent over 2021 to 4,560.3 thousand but were down by 10.8 percent over the same month in 2019.

Central bank analysts attribute the performance to a 52.3 percent increase in inbound traveler flows.

Meanwhile, according to the BoG, the balance of travel services posted a surplus of 2,669.4 million euros in September and 14,128.2 million euros in the January-September period.

Sector stakeholders are confident that tourism demand will continue into November as many of the country’s hotel enterprises have remained open to accommodate airlines extending their charter flight schedules for the year.

Key markets supporting tourism to Greece include Germany, France, the UK and the US.