Visitors traveling for work buoy tourism takings
People who travel to Greece for work – for example visiting international exhibitions – are boosting the country’s tourism revenues in the face of a drop in foreign tourist arrivals.
Bank of Greece figures revealed on Thursday that travel takings during the first quarter of the year posted an annual rise of 4.5 percent, exceeding 539 million euros, while arrivals fell 1.7 percent from 2015.
Interestingly, the bulk of the rise in revenues is attributed to visitors who came to Greece for professional purposes, as they brought 38.3 percent more takings, to reach 153.2 million, while revenues from holidaymakers posted a 4.9 percent annual drop, to 226.3 million euros.