The number of inbound visitors in Greece jumped 45.6% to 1.728 million in the January-March period this year, from 1.187 million during the same period in 2014, while travel receipts grew 12.8% to 532 million euros over the same period, the Bank of Greece (BoG) said.
In a report on tourism trends in the country, the central bank said that in the period under review, arrivals from within the EU-28 rose by 70.6% year-on-year to 1.021 million, while arrivals from outside the EU-28 increased by 20.3% to 708,000. Arrivals from the euro area rose by 29.7%, while arrivals from the non-euro area EU-28 countries rose by 105.7%.
Arrivals from Germany and France rose by 35.9% and 94.2% respectively, while arrivals from the United Kingdom rose by 37.7%. Finally, turning to the non-EU-28 countries, arrivals from Russia fell by 66.9% to 9,000, while United States arrivals increased by 49.7% to 48,000. In January-March 2015, travel receipts increased by 12.8% year-on-year to 532 million euros. This development is attributed, first, to an increase in receipts from outside the EU-28 (by 16.7% to 266 million) and, to a lesser extent, to an increase in receipts from within the EU-28 (by 9.8% year-on-year to 253 million in January-March 2015). Receipts from euro area residents fell by 2.4% to 138 million euros, while receipts from non-euro area residents within the EU-28 rose by 29.6% to 114 million.
Receipts from Germany rose by 2.8% to 42 million euros and those from France by 39.7% to 14 million. Receipts from the United Kingdom increased as well by 25.5% to 42 million. Turning to the non-EU-28 countries, receipts from Russia fell by 73.2% to 5 million, while receipts from the United States rose by 32.9% to 35 million.
In March 2015, the balance of travel services showed a 49-million-euro surplus, up from 46 million in March 2014 and travel receipts rose by 13.3% year-on-year.
(source: ana-mpa)
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