Greece Sees Rise in Arrivals, Travel Receipts in Jan-Oct 2017

The number of inbound visitors to Greece during the first 10 months of the year rose by 10.1 percent to 25,891 thousand, compared to 23,519 thousand during the same period in 2016, the Bank of Greece (BoG) said on Friday.

According to data released by BoG, visitor flows though Greek airports and road border-crossing points both increased by 10 percent.

In the period under review, the number of visitors to Greece from France increased by 8.2 percent to 1,395 thousand, as did the number of visitors from Germany, by 17.7 percent to 3,579 thousand. Visitors from the United Kingdom also increased, by 3.8 percent to 2,916 thousand.

Turning to non-EU28 countries, the number of visitors from Russia increased by 0.5 percent to 573 thousand, as did the number of visitors from the United States, by 10.1 percent to 807 thousand.

In October alone, the number of inbound visitors to Greece rose by 8.4 percent year-on-year to 2,356 thousand.

Travel receipts

In January-October 2017 Greece saw an increase in travel receipts by 10.6 percent year-on-year to 14,162 million euros.

According to the BoG, the rise in travel receipts is attributed mostly to the 10.1 percent increase in inbound traveller flows and, to a lesser extent, to a 0.9 percent rise in average expenditure per trip.

Receipts from France rose by 16.6 percent to 974 million euros, as did receipts from Germany, by 27.8 percent to 2,429 million euros. Receipts from the United Kingdom also increased, by 12.5 percent to 2,036 million euros. In regards to to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia decreased by 2.7 percent to 408 million euros, whereas receipts from the United States increased by 2.9 percent to 765 million euros.

In October alone travel receipts rose by 14.2 percent to 1,167 million euros, from 1,023 million euros in the same month of 2016.