- 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.