Greece’s Tourist Revenue Grows 306.2% in January-February

Photo source: Municipality of Athens

Greece’s tourism industry is indicating positive signs for 2022 with the latest figures of the Bank of Greece already showing more tourists and revenue compared to last year.

Already for the first two months of this year, tourist receipts in Greece reached 273 million euros, which corresponds to 63.7 percent of 2019 levels (over 500 million euros during January-February).

The increase in travel receipts in the first two months of this year compared to the corresponding two months of 2021 is even greater, at 306.2 percent. It is reminded that in January-February 2021, travel receipts in Greece had added up to 67 million euros due to the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on travel.

According to the Bank of Greece, the rise in travel receipts during January-February 2022 is attributed to a 282.5 percent increase in inbound traveller flows (658.4 thousand compared to 172.2 thousand in 2021), as well as to a rise of 5.8 percent in average expenditure per trip.

Photo source: Shutterstock

Greece’s 273 million euros in travel receipts during January-February 2022 was driven by a 280.3 percent increase in receipts from residents of the EU27, to 152.6 million euros, and by a 340.8 percent rise in receipts from residents outside the EU27 to 119.4 million euros.

Greece’s top tourism markets for January-February 2022, in terms of spending, were Germany (39.6 million euros, up by 243.5 year-on-year), France (10.9 million euros, up by 451.4 percent), the United Kingdom (29.5 million euros, up by 477.2 percent) and the United States (14.8 million euros, up by 2,308.1 percent), according to the Bank of Greece.

February

In February 2022 alone, travel receipts quadrupled to 133 million euros, compared to 33 million euros in the corresponding month of 2021, showing an increase of 302.5 percent. The rise in travel receipts was due to a 314.8 percent increase in inbound traveller flows, as average expenditure per trip declined by 3.4 percent.

Greece’s 133 million euros in travel receipts in February was driven by an increase in spending by residents of EU27 countries by 291.7 percent to 72.5 million euros. Receipts from outside the EU27 increased by 312.5 percent to 59.9 million euros.