Assessing the impact of terrorism on travel activity in Greece

The aim of this paper is to assess the volatility of Greek travel receipts by considering the extent to which terrorist strikes can bring about serious unexpected disturbances to the proceeds from tourism.The paper shows that the impact of terrorist attacks at an international level is not expected to bring about a considerable decline of the number of arrivals to Greece. This finding seems consistent with other sources in the literature that argue in favour of the transitory impact of terrorist attacks on the flow of tourists to a specific destinationTerrorism; Tourism; Current Account

Assessing the impact of domestic economic crises on foreign travel data recording : the Greek case

Purpose: We assess whether statistical recording of international travel activity towards a country in financial crisis environment underestimates the actual picture of its tourism receipts. Design/Methodology/Approach: Considering the case of Greece and using data during a period including the financial crisis, a VECM estimation highlights the factors endogenously affecting the recorded international travel receipts. Findings: The performance of international travel receipts during the Greek crisis cannot be explained only by changes in variables proposed in the appropriate theoretical background like foreign demand and relative prices. In addition, inward travel activity in the country has been adversely affected by the rise in domestic turmoil following the crisis, while travel receipts indicators underestimate actual tourism performance during periods of intense turbulence in the financial system. Practical Implications: Accounting for such under recording, policy makers can more accurately assess the performance and actual contribution of the tourism sector to an economy under stress, upon designing the appropriate sectoral policy interventions. In parallel, tourism sector stakeholders can form a better-informed view about the sector’s actual trends and prospects. Originality/Value: In the case of the Greek financial crisis we find that the effective income contribution of the tourism sector to Greek service providers was considerably higher than recorded international receipts, by circa 4.6% of annual revenues and cumulatively by €2.8 billion during the four-year period following the imposition of capital controls.peer-reviewe