Bank of Greece: 87.5% of travel receipts in 2016 came from five regions

The Bank of Greece publishes today for the first time travel data by region of Greece, as part of its ongoing commitment to present a more comprehensive and accurate picture of the current macroeconomic situation and to provide statistical data users, from the private and the public sector, with better and more detailed information. 

Since January 2016, the Bank of Greece has started to collect and process travel data by region of Greece, as derived from its Border Survey. Thus, the Bank of Greece travel statistics now also include a regional breakdown of inbound travel receipts, visits and overnight stays. (1)  The regional classification used follows the Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 2013/EU-28) and, more specifically, the NUTS level 2 subdivisions, which coincide with Greece’s 13 administrative regions. 

The key travel receipt figures by region will be published on a quarterly basis on the Bank of Greece website at:

http://www.bankofgreece.gr/Pages/en/Statistics/externalsector/balance/travelling.aspx 

In more detail: 

Travel receipts by region 

Total travel receipts in 2016 amounted to €12,749 million. As shown in Chart 1 and in the Table, five regions accounted for the bulk (87.5%) of total receipts, namely the Southern Aegean (€3,136 million), Crete (€3,095 million), Attica (€1,734 million), Central Macedonia (€1,688 million) and the Ionian Islands (€1,504 million). The remaining regions (the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Epirus, Western Greece, the Northern Aegean, Central Greece and Western Macedonia) together accounted for €1,592 million.

Visits by region

In 2016, visits to Greece (all 13 regions combined) totalled 28,376 thousand. The number of visits exceeds the number of inbound visitors (2016: 24,799 thousand), as travellers may visit more than one region in the course of one trip.

The six most popular regional destinations, accounting for 86.4% of total visits (Chart 2 and Table), were: Central Macedonia (6,395 thousand visits), the Southern Aegean (5,227 thousand), Attica (4,543 thousand), Crete (4,537 thousand), the Ionian Islands (2,457 thousand) and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (1,363 thousand). The remaining regions (the Peloponnese, Epirus, Thessaly, Western Greece, Central Greece, Western Macedonia and the Northern Aegean) together accounted for 3,854 thousand visits. 

Overnight stays by region

Overnight stays in Greece in 2016 totalled 190,402 thousand.

According to the breakdown into the 13 regions (Chart 3 and Table), five regions accounted for 85.1% of total overnight stays, namely the Southern Aegean (39,996 thousand nights), Crete (39,378 thousand), Central Macedonia (36,330 thousand), Attica (24,769 thousand) and the Ionian Islands (21,493 thousand). The remaining regions (the Peloponnese, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Thessaly, Epirus, Western Greece, the Northern Aegean, Central Greece and Western Macedonia) together accounted for 28,437 thousand overnight stays.

Key figures of travel receipts by region 

In 2016, the average expenditure per visit to Greece (all 13 regions combined) was €449 (Chart 4 and Table), but varied widely across regions: the highest average expenditure was recorded for Crete (€682), followed by values well above the national average for the Ionian Islands (€612) and the Southern Aegean (€600). At the opposite end of the distribution, Western Macedonia posted the lowest average expenditure per visit (€205). The next lowest values were recorded for Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (€212) and Central Macedonia (€264).

Expenditure per overnight stay in Greece (all 13 regions combined) averaged €67 (Chart 5 and Table), varying between highs of €79 for Crete and €78 for the Southern Aegean and lows of €46 for Western Macedonia and €47 for Central Macedonia. 

The average length of stay in Greece was 6.7 nights (Chart 6 and Table), ranging between a high of 8.7 nights in the respective regions of Crete and the Ionian Islands and a low of 4.0 nights in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, followed by 4.5 nights in the respective regions of Central Greece and Western Macedonia. 

Main countries of visitor origin by region

As for the main countries of visitor origin, five countries accounted for 50.3% of total travel receipts, namely Germany (€2,128 million or 16.7% of total receipts), the United Kingdom (€1,944 million or 15.2%), France (€889 million or 7.0%), the United States (€728 million or 5.7%) and Italy (€722 million or 5.7%). In several regions, the main countries of visitor origin differ from the ones for the country as a whole. Chart 7 provides a breakdown of total travel receipts by country of origin for each of the 13 regions of Greece. 

In particular: 

In Attica, 50.2% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from the United States (€275 million), the United Kingdom (€213 million), Cyprus (€121 million), Germany (€98 million), France (€91 million) and Italy (€74 million). 

In the Northern Aegean, 55.8% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from Turkey (€32 million), the United Kingdom (€23 million) and the United States (€17 million). In the Southern Aegean, 53.6% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from Germany (€470 million), the United Kingdom (€425 million), France (€270 million), the United States (€267 million) and Italy (€250 million). In Crete, 52.1% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from Germany (€860 million), the United Kingdom (€408 million) and France (€346 million).

In Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, 63.5% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from Turkey (€80 million), Bulgaria (€54 million) and Germany (€49 million). In Central Macedonia, 50.9% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from Germany (€315 million), Serbia (€196 million), Romania (€175 million) and FYROM (€173 million). In Western Macedonia, 57.4% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from Germany (€17 million), Albania (€16 million) and Romania (€6 million). In Epirus, 54.6% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from Germany (€39 million), Albania (€34 million), the United Kingdom (€25 million) and Italy (€21 million).

In Thessaly, 55.1% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from the United Kingdom (€82 million), Italy (€52 million) and Germany (€32 million). In the Ionian Islands, 50.5% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from the United Kingdom (€605 million) and Germany (€155 million). In Western Greece, 38.5% total travel receipts were generated by visitors from Germany (€17 million), the United Kingdom (€14 million), Albania (€13 million) and France (€12 million). In Central Greece, 51.1% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from Germany (€19 million), the United Kingdom (€16 million), France (€15 million) and the United States (€11 million). Finally, in the Peloponnese, 42.8% of total travel receipts were generated by visitors from Germany (€47 million) the United Kingdom (€37 million), the United States (€28 million) and France (€27 million). 

(1) The relevant figures do not include cruise data collected from sources other than the Border Survey.

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