ECONOMY

Tourism set to hit new highs in 2015

Tourism set to hit new highs in 2015

Greek tourism is on course for a new record in 2015 thanks to increased visitor numbers from the US, Germany, Britain and elsewhere.

According to figures from the Bank of Greece, for the first six months of the year, foreign tourist arrivals increased by 20.8 percent to 7.56 million year-on-year. Net receipts from travel services offset 38.4 percent of the goods deficit.

Arrivals from the US rose by 41.6 percent, from Germany by 23.5 percent, Britain by 18 percent and from France by 12.5 percent, while the number from Russia decreased by 60.6 percent.

Revenues rose 32.9 percent from American tourists, 30.3 percent from the British, 21.2 percent from the French and 18.1 percent from the Germans. Revenues from Russians fell by 63.2 percent.

The Greek Association of Tourism Enterprises (SETE) estimates that as long as the election process results in a stable government, arrivals of foreign visitors will exceed a total of 25 million this year.

The maintenance of stable, competitive holiday prices against foreign markets contributed to the positive figures as did the depreciation of the euro against the dollar and sterling.

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