EUROSTAT European Union Statistical Office : Number of nights spent in the EU up in 2017

16/2018 - 24 January 2018

Tourism in the EU

Number of nights spent in the EU up in 2017…

… with substantial increase in Latvia, Slovenia and Croatia

In 2017, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the European Union (EU) is expected to have reached more than 3.2 billion, up by 5.1% compared with 2016. Since 2009, there has been a steady increase in the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the EU, notably driven by the rise in the nights spent by non-residents of the country visited.

In 2017, Spain (471 million nights, +3.6% compared with 2016) retained its lead, ahead of France (431 mn, +6.6%), Italy (425 mn, +5.4%) and Germany (400 mn, +2.7%).

These early estimates, which include nights spent whether for business or leisure, come from anarticle issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Number of nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments, EU, 2000-2017

(index: 2000=100, annual estimates )

Total nights spentNights spent by non-residentsNights spent by residents

EU aggregate estimated for the purpose of this publication using available data.

Highest growth in total tourism nights in Latvia, Slovenia and Croatia

The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation in 2017 grew in nearly all Member States for which data are available, with the largest increases being observed in Latvia (+12.0%), Slovenia (+11.3%) and Croatia (+10.6), followed by Portugal (+8.0%), the Czech Republic (+7.7%) and Cyprus (+7.3%). In contrast, the only slight fall was registered in Luxembourg (-1.0%, equivalent to 28 thousand nights).

Spain, top destination abroad

In the EU, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation by non-residents grew faster (+6.9%) between 2016 and 2017 than those spent by residents (+3.5%). Almost every EU Member State recorded an increase in the number of tourism nights spent by non-residents, with the exception being Luxembourg (-0.6%, equivalent to 15 thousand nights).

In absolute figures, Spain (307 mn nights, or 19% of the total of nights spent by non-residents in the EU) recorded the highest number of nights spent by non-residents in tourist accommodation establishments.

Methods and definitions

Data are collected by the competent national authorities of the Member States and are compiled according to a harmonised methodology established by EU regulations before transmission to Eurostat. Surveys on the occupancy of accommodation establishments are generally conducted on a monthly basis.

In this publication, estimates for the entire year 2017 were obtained by extrapolating the evolution for the first ten or eleven months of the year to the remaining months.

Under the Statistical classification of economic activities (NACE Rev. 2), tourist accommodation establishments include:

Hotels and similar accommodation (NACE 55.1): Provision of accommodation, rented typically on a daily or weekly basis, principally for short stays by visitors. This includes the provision of furnished accommodation in guest rooms and suites. Services include daily cleaning and bed-making. A range of additional services may be provided such as food and beverage services, parking, laundry services, swimming pools and exercise rooms, recreational facilities as well as conference and convention facilities. It includes accommodation provided by hotels (and similar establishments, for instance operating under the name 'bed & breakfast'), resort hotels, suite/apartment hotels and motels.

Holiday and other short-stay accommodation (NACE 55.2): Provision of accommodation, rented typically on a daily or weekly basis, principally for short stays by visitors, in self-contained space consisting of complete furnished rooms or areas for living/dining and sleeping, with cooking facilities or fully equipped kitchens. This may take the form of apartments or flats in small free-standing multi-storey buildings or clusters of buildings, or single storey bungalows, chalets, cottages and cabins. Very minimal complementary services, if any, are provided. It includes accommodation provided by holiday homes for children and other holiday homes, visitor flats and bungalows, cottages and cabins without housekeeping services and youth hostels and mountain refuges.

Camping grounds, recreational vehicle and trailer parks (NACE 55.3): Accommodation in campgrounds, trailer parks, recreational camps and fishing and hunting camps for short stay visitors, provision of space and facilities for recreational vehicles and protective shelters or plain bivouac facilities for placing tents and/or sleeping bags.

The number of nights includes nights spent by both residents and non-residents, whether for business or leisure.

EU aggregate on nights spent by non-residents is the sum of nights spent by EU residents visiting other EU Member States as well as nights spent by non-EU residents.

Note: the EU aggregate includes estimated data for the United Kingdom

For more information

Eurostatwebsite section dedicated to statistics on tourism. Eurostat Eurostatdatabase on tourism.

EurostatStatistics Explained article on nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments.

Issued by: Eurostat Press Office	For further information on the publication:
Renata PALEN	Krista DIMITRAKOPOULOU
Tel: [phone]	Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]

EurostatStatisticsec.europa.eu/eurostat

@EU_EurostatMedia requests: Eurostat media support / Tel: [phone] /[e-mail]

Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments

2017, in millions

of which:

Total	residents in total
Residents	nights spent, 2017
		residents	residents
EU*	3 254.3	1 602.3	1 652.0	49%	6.9
Belgium	38.2	18.5	19.7	48%	8.6
Bulgaria	26.0	17.1	8.9	66%	5.9	- 1.8
Czech Republic	53.5	26.4	27.1	49%	8.8	6.5
Denmark	32.3	12.0	20.4	37%	3.4	0.8
Germany	399.9	82.7	317.2	21%	3.4	2.5
Estonia	6.5	4.1	2.3	64%	3.3	6.1
Ireland	33.9	18.0	15.9	53%	:	:
Greece	106.8	85.7	21.1	80%	7.1	- 3.4
Spain	471.4	307.3	164.1	65%	4.3	2.3
France	431.3	133.1	298.3	31%	7.4	6.2
Croatia	86.1	80.2	5.9	93%	11.2	2.7
Italy	424.7	211.3	213.5	50%	5.9	4.9
Cyprus	16.5	15.6	0.8	95%	7.9	- 3.1
Latvia	4.9	3.4	1.5	69%	11.7	12.8
Lithuania	7.2	3.4	3.8	47%	3.9	2.8
Luxembourg	2.9	2.6	0.3	90%	- 0.6	- 4.1
Hungary	31.1	14.9	16.2	48%	8.1	4.7
Malta	9.6	9.2	0.4	96%	6.2	14.1
Netherlands	111.1	43.6	67.4	39%	10.1	1.3
Austria	120.6	85.7	34.9	71%	2.8	1.1
Poland	83.4	16.5	66.9	20%	6.2	4.8
Portugal	71.3	48.3	23.0	68%	9.9	4.3
Romania	26.8	5.2	21.6	20%	8.9	5.5
Slovenia	11.9	8.0	3.9	67%	14.9	4.7
Slovakia	14.7	5.3	9.4	36%	5.8	6.0
Finland	21.3	6.6	14.7	31%	14.2	1.2
Sweden	57.5	14.5	43.0	25%	3.9
United Kingdom	:	:	:	:	:
Iceland	8.8	7.7	1.1	87%	11.1
Liechtenstein	0.1	0.1	0.0	98%	12.0
Norway	33.2	9.9	23.3	30%	1.9
Switzerland	:	:	:	:	:
Montenegro	:	:	:	:	:
FYR of Macedonia	1.8	1.2	0.6	66%	15.5
Serbia	8.3	3.2	5.1	39%	17.2

Total

Figures may not add up due to rounding : data not available

Share of nights spent by non-

* EU aggregate estimated for the purpose of this publication using available data The source dataset can be foundhere

Change 2017/2016, %

5.1

3.7

3.1

7.7

1.8

2.7

4.3

:

4.8

3.6

6.6

10.6

5.4

7.3

12.0

3.3

-1.0

6.3

6.5

4.6

2.3

5.1

8.0

6.1

11.3

5.9

4.9

0.5

:

8.9

11.7

0.4

: :

9.1

11.0

Residents

3.5 - 0.5

- 0.6

:

• - 4.3

• - 0.2

• - 0.3

  : :

• - 1.3

  7.4