According to Bank of Greece data on the country’s current account balance between January and August of 2019, revenues from tourism rose by an impressive 13.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
There was also a 3.6 percent increase recorded in arrivals of non-residents to Greece over the same period.
In August of 2019 alone, the peak season for Greek tourism, revenues increased by 16.1 percent over those recorded in August of 2018, which was already a record-breaking month for tourism revenue.
The number of non-resident arrivals to Greece grew by 11% in August compared to the year prior.
In actual figures, revenues from this August were up by €579 million compared to August of 2018.
These latest figures nurture hopes that despite the massive blow the Greek tourism industry endured from the Thomas Cook bankruptcy, the year could easily end with a positive balance in terms of income earned from tourism.
The total revenues over the first eight months of this year were up by 1.58 billion euros over last year, totaling 13,241 billion euros.
The most crucial factor in this increase seems to be the sharp increase in non-EU visitors to the country, primarily from the US and China, who on average spend much more than others.
Another reason for the impressive increase in revenues is thought to be the much larger number of visitors to the city of Athens this year, which saw its share of the tourism pie increase appreciably.
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