Tourism data confirm 2021 recovery
Tourism had a positive impact on Greece’s balance of payments for services in June, Bank of Greece data show, putting it even further in the black.
Despite the fact that non-resident arrivals in the first half of 2021 were down 20.4% on 2020, because January and February 2020 were months of tourism activity, before the arrival of the pandemic, revenue rose 51% from 2020.
Overall, revenue from the first half of the year was only 20% of the pandemic level, but that is expected to improve in the second half of 2021.
According to a study by the central bank’s Economic Analysis Division, in terms of international arrivals, travel in June 2021 was at one third the level of June 2019, but July 2021 was closer to two-thirds. By comparison, June 2020 was at 3% of June 2019 and July 2020 at 29%.
