Tourism income up 15.3 pct in H1 2019

A significant increase in tourism revenue in the first half of the year has helped narrow Greece’s current account deficit, more than offsetting a rise in imports, data published by the Bank of Greece show.

Revenue from tourism in the first six months of 2019 was 5.5 billion euros, up 15.3 percent from the 4.77 billion earned in the same period in 2018.

Related to that was a 7.3 percent increase in revenue from transport, especially passenger shipping.

Imports rose 4.2 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2019 to 27.8 billion, while exports rose only 1.6 percent, to 16.2 billion.