Developments in the balance of travel services: September 2023
21/11/2023 - Press Releases
- The balance of travel services posted a surplus of €3,025.9 million in September 2023 and a surplus of €16,071.0 million in January-September 2023.
- Travel receipts rose by 14.6% in September 2023 and by 15.2% in January-September 2023.
- Inbound traveller flows increased by 12.7% in September 2023 and by 17.3% in January-September 2023.
Balance of travel services
Based on provisional data, the balance of travel services in September 2023 showed a surplus of €3,025.9 million, up from a surplus of €2,666.1 million in September 2022. More specifically, travel receipts in September 2023 rose by 14.6% to €3,256.1 million, from €2,840.3 million in September 2022, while travel payments also increased by 32.2% (September 2023: €230.3 million, September 2022: €174.2 million). The rise in travel receipts is attributed to a 12.7% increase in inbound traveller flows, as well as to a rise of 1.6% in average expenditure per trip. Net receipts from travel services accounted for 88.6% of total net receipts from services and more than offset (107.4%) the goods deficit.
In January-September 2023, the balance of travel services showed a surplus of €16,071.0 million, up from a surplus of €14,136.5 million in the same period of 2022. Travel receipts rose by €2,359.7 million, or 15.2%, to €17,919.5 million, while travel payments increased by €425.2 million, or 29.9%, to €1,848.5 million. The rise in travel receipts stemmed from a 17.3% increase in inbound traveller flows, as average expenditure per trip fell by 2.5%. Net travel receipts offset 67.5% of the goods deficit and contributed 85.0% to total net receipts from services.
Travel receipts
In September 2023, as mentioned previously, travel receipts rose by 14.6% year-on-year. In more detail, receipts from within the EU 27 increased by 21.1% to €1,826.2 million, while receipts from outside the EU27 increased by 6.7% (September 2023: €1,354.4 million, September 2022: 1,269.5 million). The rise in receipts from within the EU27 is attributed to increases in receipts from euro area residents by 23.3% (September 2023: €1,470.6 million, September 2022: €1,192.6 million) and in receipts from residents of non-euro area EU27 countries by 12.8% to €355.6 million. More specifically, among major euro area countries of origin, receipts from Germany rose by 19.0% to €619.7 million and receipts from France decreased by 11.0% to €154.4 million. Turning to non-EU27 countries, receipts from the United Kingdom grew by 14.2% to €654.5 million, while receipts from the United States fell by 22.7% to €177.7 million. Receipts from Russia decreased by 88.2% to €1.3 million.
In January-September 2023, travel receipts totalled €17,919.5 million, up by 15.2% relative to the same period of 2022. This development was due to increases in receipts from residents of the EU27 by 11.7% to €9,981.6 million and in receipts from residents outside the EU27 by 18.3% to €7,458.8 million. In greater detail, receipts from euro area residents rose by 12.0% to €7,989.2 million, while receipts from residents of non-euro area EU27 countries increased by 10.5% to €1,992.4 million. In particular, receipts from Germany grew by 4.4% to €2,965.7 million, while receipts from France grew by 10.6% to €1,290.7 million. Turning to non-EU27 countries, receipts from the United Kingdom rose by 6.8% to €3,014.7 million. Receipts from the United States increased by 13.5% to €1,115.7 million, while receipts from Russia dropped by 23.8% to €28.0 million.
Inbound traveller flows
The number of inbound travellers in September 2023 rose by 12.7% year-on-year to 5,141.4 thousand. Specifically, traveller flows through airports increased by 8.6% compared with the same month of last year, while traveller flows through road border-crossing points rose by 28.7%. This overall increase was due to higher traveller flows from both within the EU27 (up by 10.9%) and outside the EU27 (up by 15.7%). In greater detail, travellers from within the euro area rose by 8.6% to 1,997.9 thousand. Travellers from non-euro area EU27 countries also increased by 15.3% to 1,121.4 thousand. Specifically, the number of travellers from Germany increased by 8.0% to 785.4 thousand, while the number of travellers from France decreased by 6.4% to 216.6 thousand. Turning to non-EU27 countries, the number of travellers from the United Kingdom increased by 2.5% to 866.4 thousand, whereas travellers from the United States decreased by 9.7% to 170.3 thousand. Finally, the number of travellers from Russia rose by 3.8% to 4.5 thousand.
In January-September 2023, the number of inbound travellers rose by 17.3% to 27,790.5 thousand (January-September 2022: 23,686.7 thousand). Specifically, traveller flows through airports grew by 11.7%, while traveller flows through road border-crossing points increased by 36.7%. In the period under review, the number of travellers from within the EU27 rose by 15.0% year-on-year to 16,946.9 thousand and travellers from outside the EU27 increased by 21.2% to 10,843.6 thousand. The number of travellers from within the euro area rose by 10.0% and travellers from non-euro area EU27 countries increased by 25.2%. Specifically, the number of travellers from Germany grew by 6.5% to 3,855.5 thousand, as did the number of travellers from France, by 5.3% to 1,626.8 thousand. Turning to non-EU‑27 countries, the number of travellers from the United Kingdom rose by 0.8% to 3,882.4 thousand and travellers from the United States increased by 32.6% to 1,108.0 thousand. Finally, the number of travellers from Russia fell by 3.8% to 30.1 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 October 2023 will be published on 22 December 2023, in accordance with the 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.