ECONOMY

Tourism revenues up, but takings per trip fall

Greece’s travel surplus expanded further in April 2015, according to data released on Tuesday by the Bank of Greece.

The incoming money spent in the travel sector in Greece exceeded that which left the country for travel purposes by 312 million euros, against a surplus of 222 million euros in April 2014.

The central bank’s provisional data showed that tourism revenues amounted to 477 million euros in the month of Easter, posting an increase of 67 million euros, or a rise of 16.3 percent, from a year earlier. Spending by Greeks traveling abroad declined 12.3 percent year-on-year, coming to 165 million euros.

The figures show that the growth in the travel surplus was due to the major increase in incoming tourism, as arrivals advanced 28.3 percent to reach 934,000 in April 2015 against 728,000 a year earlier. Nevertheless, their average expenditure per trip declined by 8.4 percent from the same month in 2014, reaching 482 euros.

Tourists from outside the eurozone were mainly responsible for the growth in travel receipts: In the first four months of the year there was an annual increase of 44 percent in arrivals from the UK and 54 percent growth in visitors from the US.

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