Based on final data, the balance of travel services in 2023 posted a surplus of €18,162.0 million, up by 15.3% from a surplus of €15,751.5 million in 2022. This development was due to a larger increase in travel receipts (up by €2,917.5 million, or 16.5%), than in travel payments (up by €507.0 million, or 26.3%). The year-on-year rise in travel receipts was driven by a 20.8% increase in the number of non-resident inbound travellers, as well as by a rise in average expenditure per overnight stay by €6.9, or 8.6% (2023: €87.2, 2022: €80.3).

In greater detail, average expenditure per trip declined by 3.5% (2023: €570.7, 2022: €591.7) and the average length of stay fell by 11.2% to 6.5 nights (2022: 7.4 nights). Total overnight stays (Table 5) increased by 7.3% to 236,271.2 thousand in 2023 from 220,213.1 thousand in 2022.

RECEIPTS

Travel receipts in 2023 totalled €20,593.6 million, up by 16.5% compared with 2022. This development was the result of an 18.3% increase in receipts from residents of other countries, which rose to €8,576.6 million from €11,169.7 million, or 54.2% of all travel receipts.

In more detail, receipts from euro area residents increased by 12.5% year-on-year to €9,065.7 million in 2023, while receipts from residents of non-euro area EU27 countries increased by 8.0% to €2,104.0 million.

Among major countries of origin, receipts from Germany rose by 9.7% to €3,571.3 million and receipts from France rose by 11.6% to €1,425.4 million. Turning to other countries, receipts from the United Kingdom grew by 5.3% to €3,294.4 million. Receipts from the United States increased by 14.4% to €1,373.6 million, whereas receipts from Russia dropped by 21.7% to €32.4 million.  

Looking at the breakdown of non-residents’ expenditure in Greece by trip purpose, trips for personal reasons represented the bulk of total travel receipts in 2023, with a share of 94.7%, up from 94.6% in 2022, while the corresponding receipts increased by 16.6%. Within this category, leisure accounted for the largest share in total travel receipts (2023: 87.9%, 2022: 85.3%), with the corresponding receipts rising by 20.1% year-on-year to €18,100.8 million. Receipts from trips for the purpose of visiting family declined by 15.9% and their share in total travel receipts fell to 4.4% from 6.1% in 2022. Receipts from trips for health purposes also dropped by 40.0% to €37.0 million. Finally, receipts from business trips rose by 15.6%, with their share in total receipts standing at 5.3% (2022: 5.4%).

INBOUND

As already mentioned, the number of inbound travellers in 2023 rose by 20.8% to 36,082.7 thousand from 29,875.8 thousand in 2022. Specifically, traveller flows through airports grew by 12.7%, while traveller flows through road border-crossing points increased by 34.9%. Travelers from within the EU27 accounted for 54.4% of the total number of travellers, while travellers from other countries accounted for 36.3% [1]. In 2023, travellers from within the EU27 increased by 15.6% compared with 2022. This development is attributed to increases in the number of travellers from euro area countries by 11.3% to 12,913.2 thousand and in the number of travellers from non-euro area EU27 countries by 24.7% to 6,727.7 thousand. More specifically, travellers from Germany increased by 9.5% to 4,764.2 thousand and travellers from Italy increased by 30.4% to 1,842.3 thousand. Travelers from France also increased, by 4.2% to 1,831.0 thousand.

Finally, the number of travellers from other countries grew by 20.8% to 13,094.2 thousand. Specifically, the number of travellers from the United Kingdom rose by 2.4% to 4,591.7 thousand. Travelers from the United States increased by 29.2% to 1,406.5 thousand, whereas travellers from Russia declined by 1.0% to 35.7 thousand.

STAYS

In 2023, non-residents’ overnight stays in Greece totalled 236,271.2 thousand, up by 7.3% from 220,213.1 thousand in 2022. Both a 1.5% increase in nights spent by EU27 citizens and a 10.8% increase in nights spent by citizens of other nations were the driving forces behind this. The rise in overnight stays by residents of the EU27 reflects a 2.6% increase in nights spent by euro area residents, as nights spent by residents of non-euro area EU27 countries fell by 2.1%. The number of overnight stays did not change significantly from 2022 for German residents, while it increased by 33.3% for Italian residents and declined by 1.5% for French residents. Turning to other countries, the number of overnight stays by UK residents dropped by 5.2%, while the number of overnight stays by US residents rose by 23.1%. Finally, overnight stays by Russian residents increased by 8.5%. 

CRUISES

Since 2012, the Bank of Greece has conducted a cruise-specific survey (“Cruise Survey”) in order to enrich the data collected through its Border Survey. Following a standardised methodology [3], detailed cruise data for 2023 was collected at 16 Greek ports, covering 83.7% of all cruise ship arrivals in Greece.

Total receipts from cruise passengers in 2023 rose by 84.1% year-on-year to €908.4 million. Of this amount, €61.0 million were already captured in the Border Survey data, as they represent receipts from last port travellers, eventually leaving the country, while the remaining €847.4 million concern additional receipt data recorded by the Cruise Survey (Tables 6 and 7).

The year under review saw 5,152 cruise ship arrivals (2022: 4,598). Total overnight stays ashore rose by 121.5% year-on-year to 9,421.9 thousand in 2023, with a positive impact on cruise receipts. The total number of cruise passengers also rose year-on-year, by 61.1% to an estimated 3,484.1 thousand.