Greek Ministry, Central Bank Differ on Tourism Revenue Figures

Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura expressed her concern over recent provisional figures released by the Bank of Greece which found that tourism revenues dropped by 750 million euros in the first eight months of 2016 against last year — appearing to be different to the ministry’s official findings.

The central bank also made a forecast for a year-on-year decrease in the total of tourism revenues.

The minister told Greek financial daily Naftemporiki that she found the discrepancy “troubling” and that the situation calls for “further investigation”.

Deviations appear in the provisional figures released by the Bank of Greece with regard to tourism revenue for 2016 as well as to the number of arrivals compared with data released by the ministry.

“We cannot make a safe estimate on total tourism revenue figures until the end of the year,” Kountoura said.

Moreover, the minister told Naftemporiki that Greek tourism during “the months from July to October were the best of all time, according to the tourism market”.  Kountoura said that during that period, occupancy in Athens reached 100 percent and in popular Greek destinations over 85 percent.