Developments in the balance of travel services: January 2021
24/03/2021 - Press Releases
Balance of travel services
Based on provisional data, the balance of travel services in January 2021 showed a surplus of €2 million, compared with a surplus of €98 million in January 2020. More specifically, travel receipts in January 2021 fell by 90.9% to €25 million, from €281 million in January 2020, while travel payments also decreased by 87.4% (January 2021: €23 million, January 2020: €183 million). The fall in travel receipts resulted from an 87.9% decline in inbound traveller flows and a 25.1% decrease in average expenditure per trip. Net receipts from travel services offset 0.2% of the goods deficit and accounted for 0.9% of total net receipts from services.
Travel receipts
In January 2021, as mentioned previously, travel receipts declined by 90.9% year-on-year. In more detail, receipts from residents of EU27 countries fell by 85.8% to €16 million, while receipts from outside the EU27 decreased by 94.4% (January 2021: €9 million, January 2020: €168 million). The lower receipts from within the EU27 were due to decreases in receipts from euro area residents by 89.7% to €10 million (January 2020: €98 million) and in receipts from residents of non-euro area EU27 countries by 58.1% to €6 million. Among major countries of origin, receipts from Germany fell by 81.3% to €5 million and receipts from France decreased by 87.5% to €1 million. Turning to non-EU27 countries, receipts from the United Kingdom fell by 96.2% to €1 million, while receipts from the United States and Russia decreased by 99.4% and 99.0%, respectively, to almost zero.
Inbound traveller flows[1]
The number of inbound visitors in January 2021 fell by 87.9% year-on-year to 96 thousand. Specifically, visitor flows through airports declined by 88.8% and visitor flows through road border-crossing points fell by 89.7%. This overall decrease was due to lower visitor flows from both within the EU27 (down 83.4%) and outside the EU27 (down 91.9%). In greater detail, the number of visitors from within the euro area fell by 82.7% to 40 thousand, while visitors from non-euro area EU27 countries fell by 84.5% (January 2021: 22 thousand, January 2020: 140 thousand). Specifically, the number of visitors from Germany decreased by 71.4% to 19 thousand, while visitors from France fell by 71.2% to 3 thousand. Turning to non-EU27 countries, the number of visitors from the United Kingdom fell by 92.1% to 6 thousand and the number of visitors from the United States dropped by 97.7% to 1 thousand. The number of visitors from Russia also decreased, by 97.5% to almost zero.
Note: The next Press Release on “Developments in the balance of travel services” for February 2021 will be published on 21 April 2021.
[1] Inbound traveller flows exclude cruise passengers (other than those recorded in the Border Survey).