- €2.98 billion surplus in June 2025 travel services
- +8.8% rise in receipts despite a 1.7% drop in visitors
- Spending per trip up 10.2%
- Germany, France, Italy, the UK, and the US drove growth; Russia barely registers
- First half of 2025: €7.65 billion receipts, up 11% year-on-year
More Euros, Fewer Feet on the Ground
According to provisional Bank of Greece data, June 2025 was a paradox: fewer travellers arrived, but they spent a lot more. The travel balance recorded a surplus of €2.98 billion, higher than the €2.79 billion in June 2024, according to the Bank of Greece.
Receipts reached €3.3 billion, up 8.8% year-on-year. Payments rose too (by 31.4%), but net travel income still covered 94.4% of the goods deficit. The magic ingredient? A 10.2% boost in average expenditure per trip.
Inbound flows fell 1.7% overall—but airport arrivals were up 3.3%, offset by a nearly 20% plunge at land borders.
Who Spent What
- Germany: receipts up 18.6% (€594.6 million in June)
- France: up 19.9% (€192.0 million)
- Italy: up 25.7% (€180.0 million)
- UK: modest +3.0% (€601.2 million)
- USA: spectacular +64.7% (€247.3 million)
- Russia: €1.8 million (effectively absent)
From the EU27 overall, receipts rose 5.5% to €1.74 billion, largely thanks to euro area countries, while non-euro EU markets shrank. Outside the EU, the picture was brighter: receipts jumped 12% to €1.39 billion.
Half-year Snapshot: January–June 2025
Zooming out, the first six months of the year delivered a travel services surplus of €5.99 billion, up from €5.55 billion in the same period of 2024.
- Total receipts: €7.66 billion (+11%)
- EU27: €4.07 billion (+8.5%)
- Non-EU countries: €3.21 billion (+13.7%)
By country:
- Germany: €1.37 billion (+13.5%)
- France: €455.9 million (+2.1%)
- Italy: €344.7 million (+9%)
- UK: €1.08 billion (+7.3%)
- USA: €704.3 million (+29.4%)
- Russia: €9.6 million (a rounding error compared to others)
Traveller numbers for the half-year edged up only 0.6% to 11.69 million, meaning growth is riding almost entirely on bigger wallets, not busier airports.
In short, Greece is learning that quantity is not everything. With slightly fewer tourists, the country still raked in record sums thanks to higher spending per visitor. Americans in particular loosened their purse strings, while Germans and Brits kept up steady demand.
The challenge for policymakers? Ensuring the country doesn’t just focus on headcount, but instead sustains a travel experience that makes visitors happy to spend more.
Because, as H1 proved, fewer travellers can sometimes mean fatter surpluses.
