Tornos News — Bank of Greece data for tourism in the January-July period released this week shows tourism revenue down while at the same period tourist arrivals increased to new record levels
More specifically, travel receipts fell by 3.5% to €2,853 million in July 2016, from €2,957 million in the same month of 2015, while travel payments rose by 33.5% (July 2016: €243 million, July 2015: €182 million).
The fall in travel receipts resulted from an 8.9% decrease in average expenditure per trip, as arrivals rose by 5.8%.
Travel receipts
In January-July 2016 travel receipts declined by 3.5% year-on-year. Looking at the breakdown by visitor’s country of origin, receipts from residents of the EU28 fell by 4.4%
Among major countries of origin, receipts from Germany fell by 18.9% to €319 million and those from France dropped by 7.5% to €199 million. Receipts from the United Kingdom also decreased, by 35.6% to €330 million.
Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia increased by 14.4% to €108 million and those from the United States by 4.9% to €146 million.
Inbound traveller flows
The number of inbound visitors in January -July 2016 rose by 5.8% year-on-year to 4,664 thousand. Specifically, arrivals by air rose by 8.1%, while those by road fell by 2.5%.
In January-July 2016, the number of inbound visitors rose by 1.1% to 12,111 thousand, from 11,974 thousand in the same period of 2015.
Arrivals from within the EU28 increased by 7.2% year-on-year to 8,085 thousand, whereas those from outside the EU28 fell by 9.2% to 4,026 thousand.
Specifically, arrivals from Germany rose by 3.7% to 1,339 thousand, while those from France fell by 11.9% to 630 thousand. Arrivals from the United Kingdom rose by 5.5% to 1,379 thousand.
Finally, turning to non-EU28 countries, arrivals from Russia increased by 19.3% to 281 thousand and those from the United States by 12.2% to 443 thousand.
There are hopes for favourable figures for August-September. Problems faced by Turkey are believed to have diverted tourism to other markets, such as Greece.
