Foreign Spending in Greece Increases in 2011, Visa Europe Says
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By Tom Stoukas - Jul 12, 2011 9:35 AM GMT+0200 Tue Jul 12 07:35:37 GMT 2011
Spending by foreign visitors in
Greece increased 14.3 percent in the first four months of 2011, according to a study by Visa Europe.
Foreign
consumer spending in the country from January to April was 245.5 million euros ($342 million), up from 214.7 million euros a year earlier, according to the
Mediterranean Rim Tourism Monitor, posted on Visa Europe’s website. The figures are based on Visa debit, credit and pre-paid cross-border transactions.
Visitors from Cyprus topped the list, with 70 million euros of consumer spending, an increase of 14.7 percent, and the U.K. was second, at 35.5 million euros, up 7.9 percent. The biggest change came from Russians, who increased their spending by almost 81 percent, to 7.9 million euros.
Retail spending by foreigners rose 6.3 percent, to 37.4 million euros, and spending on hotels rose 22.7 percent, to 26.9 million euros, according to the study.
(Bloomberg)