Greece’s Q1 Tourism Revenue, Arrivals Not Up to Par

Revenue and tourist arrivals to Greece in the first quarter of the year have fallen below expectations, according to tentative data released on Monday by the Bank of Greece.

According to the central bank’s figures, tourism receipts for the January-March period came to 513.2 million euros, and 203.3 million euros in March, significantly lower than the same respective periods in 2015.

According to analysts, the first quarter results indicate that the sector has missed its highly promoted target of extending the tourism season.

In March, revenue dropped by 7.8 percent and by 4.8 percent in the first quarter with the number of tourism arrivals down by 0.2 percent in March and by 1.8 percent in the first quarter year-on-year.

At the same time, the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority said last week that passenger traffic at Greek airports had increased by 10.1 percent in the first four months of the year (January-April) compared to the same period in 2016. According to their data, Greek airports welcomed 9,275,894 passengers against 8,427,013 in 2016.