More specifically, the travel balance showed a surplus of 18.768 billion euros, compared to a surplus of 18.064 billion euros in the corresponding period of 2023. Travel receipts increased by 999.6 million euros or 4.9%, climbing to 21.267 billion euros, while an increase of 295.7 million euros or 13.4% was also observed in travel payments, which amounted to 2.499 billion euros.
According to the Bank of Greece, the increase in travel receipts is due to higher inbound travel traffic by 9.7%, as the average expenditure per trip decreased by 5.4%. Net receipts from the provision of travel services offset the deficit in the goods balance by 57.8% and contributed by 84.2% to total net receipts from services.
The increase in travel receipts is mainly attributed to higher receipts from residents of the EU-27 countries by 6.3% totaling 11.714 billion euros, as well as higher receipts from residents of other countries by 0.5% to 8.454 billion euros. More specifically, receipts from residents of the euro area countries amounted to 9.256 billion euros, up 3.5%, while receipts from residents of EU countries outside the euro zone also increased by 18.5%, reaching 2.457 billion euros.
As for the country of origin, receipts from Germany soared by 3.5% to 3.646 billion euros, while receipts from France decreased by 11.7%, falling to 1.246 billion euros. Receipts from Italy rose by 13.0%, reaching 1.207 billion euros. Among the remaining countries, receipts from the United Kingdom dropped by 3.9% to 3.145 billion euros, while receipts from the United States were up by 13.3%, climbing to 1.528 billion euros. On the contrary, receipts from Russia fell by 53.3% to 14.6 million euros.