The Bank of Greece recently released balance of travel
services statistics for the country for the period of January to September
2016, which show a surplus of $10.97 million, a 9 percent reduction from
the same period in 2015.
While the number of overnight stays increased by 1 percent
compared to 2015, from 170,063 to 171,754, and the number of non-resident
inbound visitors increased by 6.1 percent, average expenditures per trip fell by
13.2 percent, dropping from $605 in 2015 to $525. Similarly, expenditures per overnight stay fell from $80 to $73, and the average length of stay dropped
from 7.5 nights to 7.2, a 4.9 percent decrease.
Travel receipts from countries outside of the European Union
contributed 27.2 percent of the total, with $3.43 million, but were down by
15.4 percent, significantly contributing to a 7.9 percent decrease in overall
travel receipts. Receipts from European Union residents were also down,
contributing $8.76 million to the total, by a figure of 5.1 percent.
Receipts from Germany and the United Kingdom fell by 8.5 percent and 7.4 percent,
respectively, while those from France and the United States fell by a respective 25.8
percent and 26.1 percent. Receipts from Russia show a slight rise of 2.9
percent.
In the same period, travel payments also rose by $5.35 million, a figure that amounts to a slight increase of 0.3 percent.
