The messages from tourism for both the first half of the year and June are more than encouraging, according to data released by the Bank of Greece. The figures show that travel receipts in the first month of this summer jumped by 851.8%, while for the first half the increase reached 51%.
As a result, the travel balance shows a surplus of 689 million euros in June and 826 million euros for the January - June perod.
In addition, the incoming travel traffic increased by 317.1% in June 2021, while it decreased by 20.4 % in the period January-June 2021.
Balance of travel services
Based on provisional data, the balance of travel services in June 2021 showed a surplus of 689 million euros, up from a surplus of 39 million eurs in June 2020. More specifically, travel receipts rose by 851.8% to 791 million euros in June 2021, from 83 million euros in June 2020, while travel payments also increased by 127.4% (June 2021: 101 million euros, June 2020: 45 million euros). The rise in travel receipts is attributed to a 317.1% increase in inbound traveller flows, as well as to a rise of 124.8% in average expenditure per trip. Net receipts from travel services offset 33.1% of the goods deficit and contributed 82.6% to total net receipts from services.
In January-June 2021, the balance of travel services showed a surplus of 826 million euros, up from a surplus of 256 million euros in the corresponding period of 2020. Travel receipts rose by 374 million euros or 51.0% to 1.108 billion euros, whereas travel payments decreased by 196 million euros or 41% to 282 million euros. The rise in travel receipts reflected an 88.0% increase in average expenditure per trip, as inbound traveller flows decreased by 20.4%. Net receipts from travel services offset 7.6% of the goods deficit and contributed 37.7% to total net receipts from services
Travel receipts
In June 2021, as mentioned previously, travel receipts rose by 851.8% year-on-year. In more detail, receipts from residents of EU27 countries increased by 1,208% to 558 million euros, while receipts from outside the EU27 rose by 447.1% (June 2021: 221 million euros, June 2020: 41 million euros). The rise in receipts from within the EU27 was due to increases in receipts by euro area residents by 1,508.8% to €429 million (June 2020: €27 million) and in receipts from residents of non-euro area EU27 countries by 706.4% to 129 million euros. Among major euro area countries of origin, receipts from Germany rose by 1,570.9% to 212 million euros and receipts from France increased by 4,773.9% to 75 million euros. Turning to non-EU27 countries, receipts from the United Kingdom increased by 1,838.8% to 56 million euros and receipts from the United States increased by 9,853.4% to 35 million euros. Receipts from Russia also increased, to 2 million euros.
In January-June 2021, travel receipts increased by 51.0% year-on-year to 1.108 billion euros. This development was driven by receipts from residents of the EU27, which rose by 153.3% to 769 million euros, as receipts from residents outside the EU27 fell by 24.1% to 325 million euros. In greater detail, receipts from euro area residents increased by 153.1% to 599 million euros, while receipts from residents of non-euro area EU27 countries rose by 153.9% to 170 million euros. In particular, receipts from Germany increased by 299.5% year-on-year to 275 million euros and receipts from France increased by 486.3% to 105 million euros. Turning to non-EU27 countries, receipts from the United Kingdom rose by 28.4% to 72 million euros, while receipts from the United States decreased by 29.4% to 43 million euros. Receipts from Russia also decreased, by 72.7% to 3 million euros.
Inbound traveller flows
The number of inbound travellers in June 2021 rose by 317.1% year-on-year to 1,069 thousand. Specifically, traveller flows through airports rose by 2,845.6% relative to June 2020, whereas traveller flows through road border-crossing points fell by 0.7%. This overall increase was due to higher traveller flows from both within the EU27 (up by 312.2%) and outside the EU27 (up by 329.5%).
In January-June 2021, the number of inbound travellers fell by 20.4% to 1.733 million (January-June 2020: 2.178 million). Specifically, traveller flows through airports increased by 15.4%, whereas traveller flows through road border-crossing points declined by 59.1%. In the period under review, the number of travellers from within the EU27 rose by 4.5% year-on-year to 1,183 thousand, whereas travellers from outside the EU27 dropped by 47.4% to 550,000. The number of travellers from within the euro area rose by 56.5%, while travellers from non-euro area EU27 countries declined by 38.2%.
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