By S. Emmanouil
Duty- and tax-free shopping in Greece dropped by 18.54 percent over the first seven months of 2016, in comparison with the corresponding months in 2015, primarily due to a slump in the value of purchases by foreign visitors and especially a decrease in Chinese holiday-makers’ buying.
Chinese tourists in Greece accounted for nearly half of all tax-free purchases in 2015, at 45.5 percent, with their market share for the Jan-Jul 2016 period reaching 31.29 percent.
Recently, the sector has shown signs of picking up, with the number of tax-free and duty-free transactions nearly reaching last year’s levels for the seven-month period, albeit with less monetary value involved.
