Developments in the balance of travel services: January 2018
26/03/2018 - Press Releases
Balance of travel services
Based on provisional data, in January 2018 the balance of travel services showed a surplus of €14 million, compared with a surplus of €13 million in January 2017. More specifically, travel receipts in January 2018 fell by 3.0% to €153 million from €158 million in January 2017, while travel payments also dropped, by 3.6% (January 2018: €139 million, January 2017: €144 million). The drop in travel receipts reflected a 16.3% decline in average expenditure per trip, as inbound traveller flows increased by 16.0%. Net receipts from travel services offset 0.7% of the goods deficit and accounted for 4.7% of total net receipts from services.
Travel receipts
In January 2018, as mentioned previously, travel receipts declined by 3.0% year-on-year. In more detail, receipts from residents of the EU28 increased slightly, by 0.3%, to €86 million, whereas receipts from outside the EU28 fell by 7.0% (January 2018: €66 million, January 2017: €71 million). The uptick in receipts from within the EU28 was due to a 37.7% increase in receipts from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries (January 2018: €35 million, January 2017: €26 million), as receipts from euro area residents fell by 15.6% to €51 million. Breaking down receipts by visitor’s country of origin, receipts from Germany fell by 9.2% to €19 million, whereas receipts from France increased by 5.9% to €3 million. Receipts from the United Kingdom decreased by 1.8% to €11 million. Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia dropped by 93.7% to €0.4 million, while receipts from the United States also decreased by 22.1% to €11 million.
Inbound traveller flows (1)
In January 2018, the number of inbound visitors rose by 16.0% year-on-year to 604 thousand. Specifically, visitor flows through airports declined by 4.5%, whereas visitor flows through road border-crossing points increased by 48.4%. The increase in the number of inbound visitors is attributed to higher visitor flows from both within the EU28 (up 22.1%) and outside the EU28 (up 7.3%). In greater detail, the number of visitors from the euro area increased by 3.4% to 164 thousand, while visitors from the non-euro area EU28 countries also rose by 42.5% (January 2018: 207 thousand, January 2017: 145 thousand). Specifically, the number of visitors from Germany rose by 21.7% to 62 thousand, as did the number of visitors from France, by 22.1% to 8 thousand. Visitors from the United Kingdom decreased by 4.2% to 35 thousand. Turning to non-EU28 countries, the number of visitors from Russia dropped by 84.8% to 2 thousand, whereas the number of visitors from the United States rose by 9.4% to 22 thousand.
Note: The next Press Release on “Developments in the balance of travel services” for February 2018 will be published on 23 April 2018.
Related link: Developments in the balance of travel services: January 2018 - Table
(1) Inbound traveller flows exclude cruise passengers (other than those recorded in the Border Survey).