Developments in the balance of travel services – January 2016
23/03/2016 - Press Releases
Balance of travel services
Based on provisional data, the balance of travel services showed a surplus of €32 million in January 2016, compared with a surplus of €11 million in January 2015. More specifically, travel receipts fell by 4.7% to €161 million in January 2016, down from €169 million in the same month of 2015. Travel payments also dropped by 18.2% (January 2016: €129 million, January 2015: €158 million). Lower travel receipts resulted mainly from a decrease of 7.8% in arrivals, as average expenditure per trip rose by 3.4%. Net receipts from travel services accounted for 14.0% of total net receipts from services and offset 2.8% of the goods deficit.
Travel receipts
In January 2016, as mentioned previously, travel receipts fell by 4.7% year-on-year. Looking at the breakdown by visitor’s country of origin, receipts from residents of the EU28 decreased by 17.8% (January 2016: €76 million, January 2015: €93 million), while receipts from residents outside the EU28 rose by 11.8% (January 2016: €83 million, January 2015: €74 million). Lower receipts from within the EU28 resulted from a fall of €7 million or 12.4% in receipts from euro area residents, and a decrease of 25.7% in receipts from residents of non-euro area EU28 countries (January 2016: €28 million, January 2015: €38 million). Among major countries of origin, receipts from Germany increased by 4.6% to €17 million, while those from France decreased by 5.0% to €4 million. Receipts from the United Kingdom also decreased, by 25.7% to €12 million (January 2015: €16 million). Turning to non-EU28 countries, receipts from Russia fell by 47.2% to €1 million, while those from the United States increased by 63.2% to €11 million.
Inbound traveller flows (1)
The number of inbound visitors in January 2016 fell by 7.8% year-on-year to 559 thousand. This development reflected a 14.5% drop in arrivals from within the EU28, as arrivals from outside the EU28 rose by 2.8%. In greater detail, arrivals from the euro area decreased by 8.6% to 121 thousand, and those from the non-euro area EU28 countries dropped by 17.7% (January 2016: 196 thousand, January 2015: 239 thousand). Specifically, arrivals from Germany decreased by 14.0% to 38 thousand, and those from France by 7.4% to 11 thousand. Arrivals from the United Kingdom also fell, by 9.4% to 30 thousand. Turning to non-EU28 countries, arrivals from Russia decreased by 17.4% to 3 thousand, while those from the United States rose by 4.9% to 16 thousand.
Related link: Developments in the balance of travel services - January 2016 - Table
(1) Inbound traveller flows exclude cruise passengers (other than those recorded in the Border Survey).