Tourism: revenues reached 2019 levels in August

Tourism receipts in August reached 2019 levels, according to balance of payments data released by the Bank of Greece.

Specifically, revenue exceeded 4 billion euros (4.042 billion euros, to be exact), an amount corresponding to 98.5% of revenue in August 2019 and up by 28.1% compared to August 2021.

Revenue for the first eight months totaled 12.7 billion euros

In the eight-month period from January through August, Revenue amounted to 12.749 billion euros, representing 96.4% of total revenuein the first eight months of 2019, while they were up by 92.1% compared to the same period in 2021.

Higher growth rates in arrivals

In terms of arrivals, the growth rates were even higher than last year, a trend that indicates a decrease in the average per-person spending by travelers. Compared to 2019, however, per capita spending is higher this year.

Specifically, arrivals in August were up by 44% compared to the same month in 2021, while they corresponded to 44% of the arrivals in August 2019.

In the first eight months, arrivals were up 121.8% compared to last year and corresponded to 87.6% for the first eight months of 2019.

Current Account Deficit Widens in the First 8 Months

In August, The current account surplus decreased compared with the same month in 2021, mainly due to the deterioration of the secondary income and goods balances and, to a lesser extent, the primary income balance, which was partially offset by an improvement in the services balance.

In the first eight months, The current account deficit increased compared with the same period in 2021, mainly due to the deterioration of the goods balance, as well as the primary and secondary income balances, which was offset to some extent by an improvement in the balance of services.

The increase in the goods trade deficit is due toan increase in imports, which was greater than that of exports in absolute terms.

Exports increased by 70.3% at current prices (21.3% at constant prices), and imports rose by 48.8% at current prices (19.3% at constant prices). Specifically, exports of goods excluding fuels rose by 36.2% at current prices (15.6% at constant prices) and imports of goods excluding fuels increased by 23.8% at current prices (15.2% at constant prices).

It should be noted that the sharp increase in fuel exports and imports is mainly due to the rise in the respective prices.