Travel receipts down in 2016, despite more tourist arrivals, central bank report says




Travel receipts in 2016 totalled 13.207 billion euros, or 6.5 pct lower than the previous year, in spite of 7.5 pct increase in tourist arrivals, according to a Bank of Greece report on the travel services’ balance in 2016.

The decline was driven mainly by a 14.6 pct decrease in receipts from outside the EU28, which came to 3.652 billion euros or 27.7 pct of total travel receipts, as well as by a drop in receipts from residents of the EU28 (down 3.3 pct to 9.097 billion euros), the bank’s report said.

Receipts from euro area residents fell by 7.1 pct compared with the previous year, while receipts from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries rose by 3.6 pct.

Among major countries of origin, receipts from Germany fell by 5.2 pct to 2.128 billion euros and those from France by 25.6 pct to 889 million euros. Receipts from the United Kingdom also decreased, by 3.7 pct to 1.944 billion euros. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia rose by 3.5 pct to 436 million euros, while those from the United States fell by 22.8 pct to 728 million euros.

The number of inbound visitors rose by 7.5 pct in the same year to 28.071 million, from 26.114 million in 2015. Visitors from within the EU28 rose 15 pct and accounted for 61.3 pct of the total number of visitors. Visitors from outside the EU28 dropped 12.1 pct to account for 27.0 pct of the total. The remaining 11.7 pct corresponds to data on cruise passenger flows other than those collected through the Border Survey.

In particular, visitors from Germany increased by 11.7 pct to 3.139 million, while those from France fell by 13.7 pct to 1.314 million. Visitors from the United Kingdom rose by 20.8 pct to 2.895 million. Finally, turning to non-EU28 countries, visitors from Russia rose by 16.1 pct to 596,000 and those from the United States by 3.8 pct to 779,000.

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