Tourism made a positive start in 2024, according to the data announced by the Bank of Greece, as inbound traveller flows recorded a 16% increase in the first month of the year, pushing the corresponding receipts above 278 million euros.
A surplus of 112.6 million euros in the travel balance
The balance of travel services showed a surplus of 112.6 million euros in January 2024, up from a surplus of 54.6 million euros in January 2023.
Travel receipts climbed to 278.3 million euros, compared to 219 million euros in the corresponding month of 2023, marking a jump of 27.1%, while an increase of 0.7% was also observed in travel payments.
Average expenditure per trip up 9.7%
According to the BoG, the increase in travel receipts is due to both the 16% increase in inbound traveller flows and the average expenditure per trip, which rose by 9.7%. Net travel receipts offset 4.2% of the goods deficit and contributed 25.8% of total net services receipts.
Inbound traveller flows
The number of inbound travellers in January 2024 rose by 16.0% year-on-year to 737.3 thousand. Specifically, traveller flows through airports increased by 11.7% compared to January 2023, while traveller flows through road border-crossing points rose by 24.8%. This increase was due to higher traveller flows from both within the EU27 (up by 24.9%) and outside the EU27 (up by 8.3%). In greater detail, travellers from within the euro area rose by 21.2% to 254.7 thousand, while travellers from non-euro area EU27 countries increased by 34.4% to 112.8 thousand.
Specifically, the number of travellers from Germany rose by 8.6% to 70.2 thousand and the number of travellers from France increased by 35.4% to 42.6 thousand. Turning to non-EU27 countries, the number of travellers from the United Kingdom dropped by 39.2% to 36.2 thousand, while travellers from the United States increased by 260.2% to 54.6 thousand. No travellers were recorded from Russia.
