Developments in the balance of travel services: January 2022
24/03/2022 - Press Releases
- The balance of travel services posted a surplus of €60.8 million in January 2022.
- Travel receipts rose by 309.8% in January 2022.
- Inbound traveller flows increased by 256.7% in January 2022.
Balance of travel services
Based on provisional data, the balance of travel services in January 2022 showed a surplus of €60.8 million, up from a surplus of €1.7 million in January 2021. More specifically, travel receipts rose by 309.8% to €140.1 million in January 2022, from €34.2 million in January 2021, while travel payments also increased by 143.8% (January 2022: €79.3 million, January 2021: €32.5 million). The rise in travel receipts was due to a 256.7% increase in inbound traveller flows as well as a 14.5% rise in average expenditure per trip. Net receipts from travel services offset 2.0% of the goods deficit and contributed 15.8% to total net receipts from services.
Travel receipts
In January 2022, as mentioned previously, travel receipts rose by 309.8% year-on-year. In more detail, receipts from residents of EU27 countries increased by 270.6% to €80.1 million, while receipts from outside the EU27 increased by 373.5% (January 2022: €59.4 million, January 2021: €12.6 million). The rise in receipts from within the EU27 was due to increases in receipts from euro area residents by 295.1% to €62.6 million (January 2021: €15.8 million) and in receipts from residents of non-euro area EU27 countries by 203.3% to €17.5 million. More specifically, among major euro area countries of origin, receipts from Germany rose by 227.7% to €21.4 million and receipts from France increased by 486.9% to €5.4 million. Turning to non-EU27 countries, receipts from the United Kingdom rose by 524.8% to €16.4million and receipts from the United States increased by 3,768.9% to €7.0 million. Receipts from Russia also increased, by 1,085.7% to €0.9% million.
Inbound traveller flows
The number of inbound travellers in January 2022 rose by 256.7% year-on-year to 341.4thousand. Specifically, traveller flows through airports increased by 352.3% compared with January 2021 and traveller flows through road border-crossing points rose by 182.9%. This overall increase was due to higher traveller flows from both within the EU27 (up by 219.6%) and outside the EU27 (up by 324.4%). In greater detail, the number of travellers from within the euro area rose by 270.2% to 148.9 thousand, while travellers from non-euro area EU27 countries increased by 125.2% to 48.6 thousand. In particular, the number of travellers from Germany increased by 183.5% to 54.2 thousand and travellers from France increased by 424.8% to 15.8 thousand. Turning to non-EU27 countries, the number of travellers from the United Kingdom rose by 483.9% to 33.4 thousand, while the number of travellers from the United States increased by 1,379.6% to 10.8 thousand and from Russia by 579,3% to 2.2 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 2022 will be published on 21 April 2022, 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.