Tourism: Arrivals broke the 35-million barrier in January-November 2024

A total of 35.069 million foreign tourists visited Greece in January-November 2024, boosting tourism revenues to 21.27 billion euros, according to data announced by the Bank of Greece (BoG).

More specifically, the travel balance showed a surplus of 18.768 billion euros, compared to a surplus of 18.064 billion euros in the corresponding period of 2023. Travel receipts increased by 999.6 million euros or 4.9%, climbing to 21.267 billion euros, while an increase of 295.7 million euros or 13.4% was also observed in travel payments, which amounted to 2.499 billion euros.

Average expenditure per trip lower by 5.4%

According to the Bank of Greece, the increase in travel receipts is due to higher inbound travel traffic by 9.7%, as the average expenditure per trip decreased by 5.4%. Net receipts from the provision of travel services offset the deficit in the goods balance by 57.8% and contributed by 84.2% to total net receipts from services.

The increase in travel receipts is mainly attributed to higher receipts from residents of the EU-27 countries by 6.3% totaling 11.714 billion euros, as well as higher receipts from residents of other countries by 0.5% to 8.454 billion euros. More specifically, receipts from residents of the euro area countries amounted to 9.256 billion euros, up 3.5%, while receipts from residents of EU countries outside the euro zone also increased by 18.5%, reaching 2.457 billion euros.

As for the country of origin, receipts from Germany soared by 3.5% to 3.646 billion euros, while receipts from France decreased by 11.7%, falling to 1.246 billion euros. Receipts from Italy rose by 13.0%, reaching 1.207 billion euros. Among the remaining countries, receipts from the United Kingdom dropped by 3.9% to 3.145 billion euros, while receipts from the United States were up by 13.3%, climbing to 1.528 billion euros. On the contrary, receipts from Russia fell by 53.3% to 14.6 million euros.