Greece Sees Average Travel Spend Per Trip Rise in Jan-July 2019

While inbound traveller flows to Greece saw only a slight growth during the January-July 2019 period, travel receipts saw a satisfactory increase due to an increase in the average expenditure per trip, data of the Bank of Greece showed on Monday.

According to the data, during the first seven months of the year, the number of inbound visitors increased by 0.6 percent to 15,080 thousand, compared to 14,995 million travelers in the corresponding period of 2018.

Despite the slight increase in tourist traffic, revenue from travel receipts increased by 13.6 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2018 and amounted to some 9,154 million euros.

“This development was driven by a 12 percent increase in receipts from residents of the EU28, which came to 6,188 million euros, and by a 17.9 percent rise in receipts from residents outside the EU28 to 2,726 million euros,” the Bank of Greece said.

Specifically, receipts from Germany decreased by 1.1 percent to 1,444 million euros, while receipts from France rose by 19.5 percent to 551 million euros. Receipts from the United Kingdom also increased, by 25.9 percent to 1,318 million euros. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from the United States rose by 12.1 percent to 569 million euros, while receipts from Russia fell by 7.9 percent to 184 million euros.

According to the data, these developments resulted in the travel balance showing a surplus of 7,547 million euros, up from a surplus of 6,793 million euros in the same period of 2018.

“The rise in travel receipts is attributed mainly to a 13.1 percent increase in average expenditure per trip, as inbound traveller flows increased only slightly,” the Bank of Greece said.