Developments in the balance of travel services: January 2025
26/03/2025 - Press Releases
- The balance of travel services posted a surplus of €87.5 million in January 2025.
- Travel receipts rose by 7.5% in January 2025.
- Inbound traveller flows grew by 11.4% in January 2025.
Balance of travel services
Based on provisional data, the balance of travel services in January 2025 showed a surplus of €87.5 million, down from a surplus of €115.9 million in January 2024. More specifically, in January 2025, travel receipts rose by 7.5% to €302.2 million, up from €281.0 million in January 2024, while travel payments also increased by 30.0% (January 2025: €214.7 million, January 2024: €165.1 million). The rise in travel receipts stemmed from an 11.4% increase in inbound traveller flows, as average expenditure per trip fell by 3.5%. Net travel receipts offset 3.0% of the goods deficit and contributed 34.7% to total net receipts from services.
Travel receipts
In January 2025, as mentioned previously, travel receipts rose by 7.5% year-on-year to €302.2 million. In more detail, receipts from residents of the EU27 decreased by 2.5% to €144.2 million, while receipts from other countries grew by 18.9% (January 2025: €156.0 million, January 2024: €131.2 million). The drop in receipts from within the EU27 was driven by a 50.6% decrease in receipts from non-euro area residents (January 2025: €15.0 million, January 2024: €30.3 million), as receipts from euro area residents grew by 9.9% (January 2025: €129.3 million, January 2024: €117.7 million). More specifically, among major euro area countries of origin, receipts from Germany rose by 16.2% to €35.5 million, while receipts from France dropped by 47.3% to €9.8 million. Receipts from Italy increased by 17.4% to €22.9 million. Turning to other countries, receipts from the United Kingdom grew by 36.4% to €25.3 million, as did receipts from the United States, by 20.4% to €40.9 million. Lastly, receipts from Russia stood at €1.6 million.
Inbound traveller flows
The number of inbound travellers in January 2025 rose by 11.4% year-on-year to 821.6 thousand. Specifically, traveller flows through airports increased by 24.9% compared with January 2024, while traveller flows through road border-crossing points fell by 9.7%. This overall increase was due to higher traveller flows from both EU27 countries (up by 3.0%) and other countries (up by 19.8%). In greater detail, travellers from within the euro area increased by 25.2% to 318.8 thousand, while travellers from non-euro area EU27 countries decreased by 47.0% to 59.8 thousand. Specifically, the number of travellers from Germany rose by 35.3% to 95.0 thousand, while the number of travellers from France fell by 45.2% to 23.3 thousand. Travellers from Italy increased by 19.6% to 45.8 thousand. Turning to non-EU27 countries, the number of travellers from the United Kingdom rose by 110.7% to 76.2 thousand, while travellers from the United States declined by 11.3% to 48.5 thousand. Lastly, the number of travellers from Russia stood at 0.6 thousand.
Note:
Inbound traveller flows exclude cruise passengers other than those recorded in the Border Survey.
Related information:
The next Press Release on “Developments in the balance of travel services” for February 2025 will be published on 22 April 2025, in accordance with the 2025 Advance Release Calendar, posted on the Bank of Greece website.
Related link:
Detailed and final data on the balance of travel services are published in the Travel services section of the Bank of Greece website.