The balance of travel services in 2022 posted a surplus of 15,751.5 million euros, up 67.7% from a surplus of 9,390.2 million in 2021. This development was due to a stronger increase in travel receipts (up by 7,173.5 million euros or 68.3%) than in travel payments (up by 812.1 million euros or 73.0%).
Higher travel receipts in 2022 compared with 2021 were driven by a 96.0% increase in the number of non‑resident inbound travellers, as well as by a rise in average expenditure per overnight stay by 1.8 euros or 2.2% (2022: 80.3 euros, 2021: 78.5 euros).
In greater detail, average expenditure per trip decreased by 14.1% (2022: 591.7 euros, 2021: 688.9) as the average length of stay dropped by 16.0% to stand at 7.4 overnight stays (2021: 8.8 nights). Total overnight stays in 2022 increased by 64.7% to 220,213.1 thousand (2021: 133,734.9 thousand nights).
Travel receipts in 2022 totalled 17,676.2 million euros, up by 68.3% compared with 2021. This development was driven by a 47.2% increase in receipts from residents of the EU27, which came to 10,005.6 million euros and accounted for 56.6% of total travel receipts, and by a 105.4% rise in receipts from non-EU27 residents to 7,251.9 million.
Compared with 2019, in 2022 travel receipts fell by 2.8% and travel payments by 29.9%, while the travel surplus increased by 316.6 million. In greater detail, average expenditure per trip rose by 10.7% (2022: 591.7 euros, 2019: 534.6 euros) and average expenditure by overnight stay by 4.4% (2022: 80.3 euros, 2019: 76.9 euros), while the average length of stay grew by 6.0% (2022: 7.4 nights, 2019: 7.0 nights). The number of overnight stays decreased by 6.9% in 2022 compared with 2019 (2022: 220,213.1 thousand nights, 2019: 236,547.4 thousand nights), while inbound traveller flows dropped by 12.1%.
Travel for leisure in 2022 decreased by 5.1% against 2019, while receipts from business trips increased by 6.1% (2022: 950.0 million euros, 2019: 895.0 million euros). Lastly, total receipts from cruise passengers declined by 11.2% in 2022 compared with 2019.
Among major countries of origin, receipts from Germany rose by 40.6% to 3,255.8 million euros and receipts from France grew by 28.8% to 1,277.0 million euros. Turning to non‑EU27 countries, receipts from the United Kingdom rose by 113.3% to 3,127.1 million euros, while receipts from the United States increased by 101.3%% to 1,200.2 million. Receipts from Russia decreased by 63.9% to 41.4 million euros.
As already mentioned, the number of inbound travellers in 2022 rose by 96.0% to 29,875.8 thousand, from 15,246.1 thousand in 2021.
Specifically, traveller flows through airports increased by 81.5% and traveller flows through road border‑crossing points rose by 133.1%.
The year under review saw 4,598 cruise ship arrivals (2021: 2,074) and 4,493.6 thousand cruise passenger visits (2021: 1,538.8 thousand).
Total receipts from cruise passengers in 2022 rose by 145.7% year‑on‑year to 493.4 million euros.
