ATHENS: According to data released by the Bank of Greece (BoG) on Monday, the country has seen a considerable loss in revenues from the tourism sector compared to year-on-year statistics. The data revealed that the difference between the tourism revenues collected by the state from 2015 and 2016 is a decrease of 703 million euros.
Officials were hopeful that September’s increase in tourist arrivals might off-set the losses, however, as the final numbers have come in, the BoG reports that the 3.5 percent rise year-to-end in arrivals caused revenues to go up a mere 2.3 percent.
Overall, the nine-month period from January to September saw a drop of 5.5 percent, with revenues at 12.78 billion euros for 2015 and only 12.08 billion euros for 2016.
The Hellenic Hotel Federation head Yiannis Retsos commented that the instability of Turkey following the failed military coup attempt on July 15 and the migrant crisis are factors that have contributed to the decrease of tourism revenues in Greece. Also, tax hikes throughout the country made Greece an expensive holiday destination for travelers, he added.
