The balance of payments accounts for the tourism sector in Greece posted a €206.2 million surplus for November in 2023, against a 198.5% surplus over the respective month of the previous year, according to provisional data from the Bank of Greece (BoG).

For the 11-month term January-November of 2023 it recorded a surplus of €17.895,5 million the data revealed.

Travel receipts were up by 18.9% for November 2023 and a notable 15.4% for the 11 months January-November of 2023, while inbound traffic posted a 27.5% uptick in November and 17.3% over the January-November term.

Receipts from residents of EU-27 countries increased by 26.4%, reaching €178.2 million. Meanwhile, receipts from residents of non-EU-27 countries rose by 13.6% (November 2023: €195.4 million, November 2022: €172.0 million).

The surge in receipts from EU-27 residents was a result of increased receipts from residents of the eurozone countries by 32.5% (November 2023: €140.8 million, November 2022: €106.2 million), as well as receipts from residents of EU-27 countries outside the eurozone by 7.8% to €37.5 million.

Regarding the most significant origin countries of travelers from the eurozone, receipts from Germany increased by 74.8%, reaching €44.8 million, while those from France decreased by 14.1%, amounting to €10.1 million. From non-EU-27 countries, receipts from the United Kingdom decreased by 34.4% to €19.3 million, while those from the United States increased by 62.4%, totaling €65.1 million. Finally, receipts from Russia saw a significant decrease of 94.8%.

The incoming travel in November 2023 reached 1,036.1 thousand visitors, marking a substantial increase of 27.5% compared to the same month in 2022. Specifically, travel via airports increased by 33.3% compared to November 2022, while travel through road border crossings increased by 20.0%.

The rise in inbound travel was driven by an increase in travel both from EU-27 countries by 30.6% and from non-EU-27 countries by 24.2%.