BoG: Inbound Travelers to Greece Rise 90.3% in Jan-Nov 2022

Tourists on Knossos, Crete.

The number of inbound travelers to Greece increased in the January-November 2022 period by 90.3 percent over the same period in 2021 to 27,255.4 thousand driving travel receipts up by 68.5 percent to 17.3 million euros, according to provisional data presented by the Bank of Greece (BoG).

More specifically, last year’s 11-month arrivals exceeded 2021 levels by 82.4 percent through airports and by 135.7 percent via road border-crossing points.

Incoming travelers from EU states increased by 68.3 percent year-on-year to 16,764.2 thousand and by 140.6 percent from non-EU countries to 10,491.2 thousand.

Key markets in the 11 months were those of Germany up by 45.6 percent, France by 50.1 percent, the UK by 185.2 percent and the US by 173.3 percent.

Source: BoG.

BoG analysts attribute the rise in travel receipts to the 90.3 percent increase in inbound traveler flows which mitigated a 12 percent drop in average expenditure per trip.

Compared with January-November 2019, 11-month travel receipts dropped by 2.8 percent and inbound traveler flows by 11.1 percent but average expenditure per trip increased by 9.8 percent.

In November 2022, a total of 812.4 thousand travelers – up by 44.7 percent  year-on-year – boosted travel receipts by 15.9 percent  to 314.0 million euros compared to 271.0 million euros in November 2021. Again average spending per trip fell by 21.8 percent in November 2021.

Compared to pre-Covid 2019, inbound traveler flows in November dropped by 12.6 percent and travel receipts by 0.4 percent but average spending per trip increased by 15.6 percent.

Key markets in November for Greece were those of France which rose by 58.1 percent and the US by 300.5 percent. The number of incoming travelers from the UK decreased by 28.7 percent and from Germany by 11.2 percent.