Data released by the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) revealed the negative impact the refugee crisis in Greece and the terrorist attacks in Turkey had on the tourism industry in both countries. According to the details of the study, tourist arrivals, as well as the aggregate revenue generated were adversely affected over the past 7 months in 7 countries in the Mediterranean basin. The statistics demonstrate that per capita median spending was down in all seven countries, irrespective of the change in arrivals, with Greece being on the average of the other countries. The numbers showed that there was an inverse relation between migration flows and tourist arrivals, meaning the higher the number of incoming migrants and refugees into a country, the lower tourist arrivals were. Greece saw a 1.6% fall in arrivals and a 4.9% drop in revenues. The median per capital spending of tourists in Greece over t6he 7-month period was down by 3.3%. Turkey recorded the highest drop in arrivals (29.1%), with revenue also falling by 30.1%, while Italy registered a 4.4% rise in arrivals, a 1.2% increase in revenues and a 3.1% drop in median per capita spending. Spain and Croatia recorded an 11.2% and 9.7% increase in arrivals, respectively, while also seeing a drop in median per capital spending by 4.1% and 2.7%. The study attributes the drop in spending to the economic recession and general financial instability in Europe.
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