Based on Bank of Greece's provisional data, the balance of travel services showed a surplus of €112.6 million in January 2024, up from a surplus of €54.6 million in January 2023. More specifically, in January 2024, travel receipts rose by 27.1% to €278.3 million, up from €219.0 million in January 2023, while travel payments also increased by 0.7% (January 2024: €165.7 million, January 2023: €164.4 million).
The rise in travel receipts is attributed both to a 16.0% increase in inbound traveller flows and to a 9.7% growth of the average expenditure per trip. Net travel receipts offset 4.2% of the goods deficit and contributed 25.8% of total net services receipts.
In January 2024, as mentioned previously, travel receipts rose by 27.1% year-on-year. In more detail, receipts from residents of the EU27 increased by 63.3% to €149.0 million and receipts from outside the EU27 grew by 1.0% (January 2024: €126.5 million, January 2023: €125.2 million).
The rise in receipts from within the EU27 was driven by increases in receipts from euro area residents by 49.6% (January 2024: €115.5 million, January 2023: €77.2 million) and in receipts from residents of non-euro area EU27 countries by 138.8% to €33.5 million.
More specifically, among major euro area countries of origin, receipts from Germany rose by 34.7% to €29.0 million, while receipts from France increased by 83.0% to €20.0 million. Turning to non-EU27 countries, receipts from the United Kingdom rose by 8.1% to €20.0 million, and receipts from the United States grew by 63.6% to €23.1 million. No receipts were recorded from Russia.
The number of inbound travellers in January 2024 rose by 16.0% year-on-year to 737.3 thousand. Specifically, traveller flows through airports increased by 11.7% compared to January 2023, while traveller flows through road border-crossing points rose by 24.8%.
This increase was due to higher traveller flows from both within the EU27 (up by 24.9%) and outside the EU27 (up by 8.3%). In greater detail, travellers from within the euro area rose by 21.2% to 254.7 thousand, while travellers from non-euro area EU27 countries increased by 34.4% to 112.8 thousand.
Specifically, the number of travellers from Germany rose by 8.6% to 70.2 thousand and the number of travellers from France increased by 35.4% to 42.6 thousand. Turning to non-EU27 countries, the number of travellers from the United Kingdom dropped by 39.2% to 36.2 thousand, while travellers from the United States increased by 260.2% to 54.6 thousand. No travellers were recorded from Russia.
