Travel receipts and revenue drop between January-June 2016 in Greece

Based on the final data by the Bank of Greece, the surplus of the balance of travel services was €3,363 million in January-June 2016, down 7.6% from a surplus of €3,642 million in January-June 2015. This is attributed to a larger decrease (in absolute terms) in travel receipts (down €330 million or 7.9%) than in travel payments (down €52 million or 9.8%). The decrease in travel receipts in January-June 2016 over the same period of 2015 was mainly driven by a fall in average expenditure per trip of €47 or 9.4% (January-June 2016: €451, January-June 2015: €499), as non-resident arrivals rose by 1.7%.

Specifically, expenditure per overnight stay dropped by 8.3% (January-June 2016: €68, January-June 2015: €74), while the average length of stay remained virtually unchanged year-on-year, at 6.7 nights (January-June 2015: 6.8 nights). Overnight stays in January-June 2016 increased marginally by 0.4% to 56,868 thousand, from 56,639 thousand in January-June 2015.

Travel receipts

Travel receipts in January-June 2016 totalled €3,841 million, falling by 7.9% relative to the same period of 2015. This development was driven mainly by a 13.8% decrease in receipts from outside the EU28, which came to €1,191 million or 31.0% of total travel receipts, as well as by a drop in receipts from residents of the EU28 (down 6.3% to €2,487 million).

In particular, receipts from euro area residents fell by 9.5% to €1,483 million, while receipts from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries dropped by 1.3% to €1,004 million.

Among major countries of origin, receipts from Germany fell by 11.7% to €597 million, those from France by 26.1% to €236 million and those from the United Kingdom by 5.0% to €602 million. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia fell by 12.8% to €110 million and those from the United States by 20.6% to €268 million.

Travel receipts by trip purpose

Looking at the breakdown of non-resident expenditure in Greece by trip purpose, trips for personal reasons represented the bulk of receipts in January-June 2016, with a share of 90.6% in total expenditure, down from 92% in the same period of 2015, as the corresponding receipts decreased by 9.3%. Within this category, leisure accounted for the largest share of total expenditure (January-June 2016: 79%, January-June 2015: 78%), with the corresponding receipts falling by 6.7% to €3,035 million. Trips for the purpose of visiting family, with a share of 6.2% in total expenditure, showed a rise of 12.3% in corresponding receipts. Receipts from trips for health purposes decreased by 44.7% to €12 million. Finally, receipts from business trips rose by 7.8%, increasing their share in total receipts (January-June 2016: 9.4%, January-June 2015: 8.0%).

Inbound traveller flows

As already mentioned, the number of inbound visitors in January-June 2016 rose by 1.7% to 8,508 thousand, from 8,368 thousand a year earlier. Specifically, arrivals by air increased by 6.1%, while those by road fell by 14.4%. Visitors from within the EU28 accounted for 58.1% of total arrivals and visitors from outside the EU28 for 29.4% (1). In January-June 2016, arrivals from the EU28 rose by 0.9% year-on-year. This development is attributed to a rise in arrivals from non-euro area EU28 countries (up 3.5% to 2,526 thousand), as arrivals from the euro area fell by 1.8% to 2,416 thousand. Arrivals from non-EU28 countries dropped by 6.1% to 2,504 thousand.

In particular, arrivals from Germany increased by 0.8% to 888 thousand, while those from France fell by 20.6% to 368 thousand. Arrivals from the United Kingdom increased by 13.1% to 928 thousand. Finally, turning to non-EU28 countries, arrivals from Russia rose by 7.7% to 162 thousand and those from the United States by 6.4% to 305 thousand.

Overnight stays

In January-June 2016, overnight stays in Greece totalled 56,868 thousand, up by a modest 0.4% from 56,639 thousand in January-June 2015. This reflected an increase of 4.7% in stays by residents of non-EU28 countries, as stays by residents of the EU28 fell by 1.8%. The decrease in stays by residents of the EU28 was due to a decline in stays by residents of non-euro area EU28 countries (down 2.2%), as well as by residents of the euro area (down 1.6%). Stays by German residents dropped by 6.5% and those by French residents by 17.2%. By contrast, stays by UK residents rose by 2.5%. Turning to non-EU28 countries, stays by Russian residents increased by 10.8% and those by US residents rose by 6.6%.

Cruises

Since 2012, the Bank of Greece conducts a cruise-specific survey (“Cruise Survey”) in order to enrich the data collected through its Border Survey. In line with standard practice, detailed cruise data were collected for January-June 2016 from 16 Greek ports, covering 82.2% of all cruise ship arrivals.

Ιn the period under review, 1,487 cruise ship arrivals (January-June 2015: 1,490) and 1,783 thousand cruise passenger visits (January-June 2015: 1,626 thousand) were recorded. It should be noted that a breakdown by country of origin is not available at present for the Cruise Survey data. This survey revealed that 91.9% of all cruise passengers were transit visitors, with an average of two stopovers at Greek ports of call, virtually unchanged from a year earlier.

In January-June 2016, total receipts from cruise passengers rose by 14.2% year-on-year to €177 million. Of this amount, €13 million was already captured in the Border Survey data, as it represents receipts from visitors leaving the country through Greek last ports, while the remaining €164 million represent additional receipts data recorded by the Cruise Survey.

Chart 7 shows a breakdown of cruise receipts by port. With a share of 45.5% in total cruise receipts, the port of Piraeus ranks first in terms of cruise receipts, followed by the port of Corfu with 13.6% and the port of Santorini with 8.4%. The seven most important cruise ship ports account for 89.7% of total cruise receipts and 85.0% of total cruise passenger arrivals.

In the period under review, total overnight stays ashore increased by 12.5% to 1,364 thousand, while the total number of cruise visitors rose by 29.5% year-on-year to an estimated 1,092 thousand, with a positive impact on cruise receipts.