Greece's travel services surplus topped 3.9 bln in August 2019

The travel services balance in Greece showed a surplus of 3.927 billion euros in August 2019, up from a surplus of 3.432 billion euros in the same month in 2018, the Bank of Greece announced on Tuesday.

More specifically, the central bank said, travel receipts in August 2019 rose by 16.1 pct to 4.183 billion euros, from 3.601 billion in August 2018, while travel payments also increased by 50.6 pct (August 2019: 255 million euros, August 2018: 170 million euros). The rise in travel receipts is attributed to a 4.8 pct year-on-year increase in average expenditure per trip, as well as to a rise of 11.0 pct in inbound traveller flows. Net receipts from travel services accounted for 87.0 pct of total net receipts from services and more than offset (210.2 pct) the goods deficit.

In January-August 2019, the balance of travel services showed a surplus of 11.402 billion euros, up from a surplus of 10.225 billion euros in the same period of 2018. This development is attributed to an increase, by 13.6 pct or 1.583 billion euros, in travel receipts, which were only partly offset by travel payments, up by 28.3 pct or 406 million euros. The rise in travel receipts is attributed to a 9.8 pct increase in average expenditure per trip, as well as to a rise of 3.6 pct in inbound traveller flows. Net receipts from travel services offset 73.7 pct of the goods deficit and accounted for 74.8 pct of total net receipts from services.

Travel receipts from residents of the EU28 increased by 17.6 pct to 3.051 billion euros in August 2019, while receipts from outside the EU28 rose by 12.6 pct (August 2019: 1.059 billion euros, August 2018: 941 million). The rise in receipts from within the EU28 was due to increases in receipts from euro area residents by 4.8 pct and in receipts from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries by 44.4 pct. Among major countries of origin, receipts from Germany decreased by 8.3 pct, whereas receipts from France increased by 7.9 pct. Receipts from the United Kingdom also increased by 54.7 pct. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from the United States rose by 12.1 pct, while receipts from Russia increased by 87.5 pct.

In January-August 2019, travel receipts totalled 13.242 billion euros, up by 13.6 pct relative to the same period of 2018. This development was driven by a 12.7 pct increase in receipts from residents of the EU28 and by a 16.5 pct rise in receipts from residents outside the EU28. In particular, receipts from euro area residents increased by 8.5 pct, while receipts from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries increased by 20.2 pct. Specifically, receipts from Germany fell by 4.8 pct, while receipts from France rose by 13.5 pct. Receipts from the United Kingdom also increased, by 33.6 pct. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from the United States increased by 13.3 pct and receipts from Russia increased by 20.4 pct.

Inbound traveller flows

The number of inbound visitors in August 2019 stood at 6,762 thousand, compared with 6,093 thousand in August 2018. Specifically, visitor flows through airports increased by 1.8 pct, while visitor flows through road border-crossing points increased by 29.8 pct.

In January-August 2019, the number of inbound visitors rose by 3.6 pct to 21,842 thousand (January-August 2018: 21,088 thousand). Specifically, visitor flows through airports increased by 2.4 pct and visitor flows through road border-crossing points increased by 5.6 pct. In the period under review, the number of visitors from within the EU28 increased by 2.7 pct year-on-year to 15,402 thousand, while the number of visitors from outside the EU28 increased by 5.8 pct to 6,440 thousand. Visitors from within the euro area declined by 3.2 pct, whereas visitors from the non-euro area EU28 countries rose by 9.5 pct. Specifically, the number of visitors from Germany decreased by 8.5 pct to 2,659 thousand, whereas visitors from France increased by 3.7 pct to 1,151 thousand. Visitors from the United Kingdom also rose by 19.3 pct to 2,486 thousand. Finally, turning to non-EU28 countries, the number of visitors from the United States increased by 11.1 pct to 787 thousand, while visitors from Russia rose by 3.8 pct to 388 thousand.