BoG: Surplus of 60.8 million euros in January 2022 in the travel balance

January ushered in good tidings for Greek tourism.

According to the official data of the Bank of Greece, the travel balance showed a surplus of 60.8 million euros in January 2022, while travel receipts increased by 309.8% in January 2022.

At the same time, incoming travel traffic increased by 256.7% in January 2022, as 341.4 thousand travelers visited our country.

Travel balance

According to the provisional data, the travel balance in January 2022 showed a surplus of 60.8 million euros, compared to a surplus of 1.7 million euros in the corresponding month of 2021. In particular, an increase of 309.8% was recorded in January 2022 travel receipts, which amounted to 140.1 million euros, compared to 34.2 million euros in the corresponding month of 2021, while an increase of 143.8% was also observed in travel payments (January 2022: 79.3 million euros, January 2021: EUR 32.5 million). The increase in travel receipts is due to the increase in incoming travel traffic by 256.7%, as well as the average expenditure per trip by 14.5%. Net receipts from the provision of travel services offset by 2.0% the goods deficit and contributed 15.8% to total net receipts from services.

Travel receipts

In January 2022, as mentioned above, travel receipts increased by 309.8% compared to the corresponding month of 2021. More specifically, receipts from residents of EU-27 countries increased by 270.6%, which were came to 80.1 million euros, while receipts from residents of non-EU-27 countries increased by 373.5% (January 2022: 59.4 million euros, January 2021: 12.6 million euros). The increase in receipts from residents of EU-27 countries was a result of the increase in receipts from residents of euro area countries by 295.1% (January 2022: 62.6 million euros, January 2021: 15.8 million, residents of EU-27 countries outside the euro area by 203.3%, which amounted to 17.5 million euros. In particular, for the most important countries of origin of travelers from the euro area, receipts from Germany increased by 227.7% to 21.4 million euros and those from France also increased by 486.9% to 5, EUR 4 million. From outside the EU-27, receipts from the United Kingdom increased by 524.8% to 16.4 million euros, while receipts from the US increased by 3,768.9% to 7.0 million euros. Receipts from Russia also increased by 1,085.7% and amounted to 0.9 million euros.

Incoming travel traffic

Incoming travel traffic in January 2022 amounted to 341.4 thousand travelers, an increase of 256.7% compared to the corresponding month of 2021. In particular, travel through airports increased by 352.3% compared to January of 2021 and this through road border stations by 182.9%. The increase in incoming travel traffic came both from the increase in travel traffic from EU-27 countries by 219.6% and from non-EU-27 countries by 324.4%. More specifically, travel traffic from the euro area countries amounted to 148.9 thousand travelers, increased by 270.2%. Travel traffic from EU-27 countries outside the euro area also increased by 125.2%, reaching 48.6 thousand travelers. In particular, travel traffic from Germany increased by 183.5% and amounted to 54.2 thousand travelers, while that from France increased by 424.8% to 15.8 thousand travelers. Regarding non-EU-27 countries, travel traffic from the United Kingdom increased by 483.9% to 33.4 thousand travelers and from the USA by 1,379.6% to 10.8 thousand travelers. Finally, travel traffic from Russia also increased by 579.3% and amounted to 2.2 thousand travelers.