January 26, 2020 - While almost every EU Member State registered an increase in domestic tourism, Croatia recorded the third-largest increase in the number of overnight stays of local guests.
HRTurizam reports that the number of tourist overnights in the European Union was expected to reach over 3.2 billion last year, which is up 2.4 percent from 2018. Since 2009, there has been a steady increase in the number of overnight stays in tourist accommodation in the European Union, mainly thanks to the rise in the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists.
In 2019, Spain (469 million nights, + 0.5% more than in 2018) maintained its lead over France (446 million, + 0.8%), Germany (436 million, + 4.0%), Italy (433 million, + 0.9%) and the United Kingdom (375 million, + 5.7%). Croatia recorded 91.2 million overnight stays, which is up 1.8 percent from a year ago.
These early estimates, which include business and private overnight stays, are from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
The highest increase in overnight stays was recorded in Slovakia and Lithuania
The number of overnight stays in tourist accommodation in 2019 increased in almost all Member States, with the highest being recorded in Slovakia (+ 12.6%) and Lithuania (+ 10%). They are followed by the Netherlands (+ 6.8%), the United Kingdom (+ 5.7%) and Romania (+ 5.6%).
On the other hand, the only decrease in the number of overnight stays was recorded in Greece (-3%) and Malta (-2.7%).
The share of overnight stays of domestic tourists is highest in Romania and of foreign tourists in Malta
In the European Union, the number of overnight stays by domestic tourists increased at the same pace (+ 2.4%) between 2018 and 2019 as the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists (+ 2.4%).
Almost every EU Member State registered an increase in the number of overnight stays of domestic guests, with the largest being recorded in Slovakia (+ 15.1%), Cyprus (+ 13%), Croatia (+ 10%), Lithuania (+ 9.9%) and Malta (+ 9.2%).
Also, the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists increased in most Member States, with the largest being recorded in the United Kingdom (+ 19.2%), the Netherlands (+ 10.6%), Lithuania (+ 10%) and Slovakia (+8. 4%).
In the EU Member States, the highest share of domestic tourist overnights was recorded in Romania (83% of total nights), Germany and Poland (80%) and Sweden (75%). On the other hand, the highest share of overnight stays of foreign guests was recorded in Malta (95%), Cyprus (94%), Croatia (92%) and Luxembourg (88%).
You can check out the full report HERE.
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