EUROSTAT European Union Statistical Office : New peak of almost 2.8 bn tourism nights spent in the EU in 2015

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Tourism in the EU

New peak of almost 2.8 bn tourism nights spent in the EU in 2015

Spain in top position

In 2015, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the European Union (EU) is expected to have reached a new record level of around 2.8 billion nights, up by 3.2% compared with 2014. 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.

In 2015, Spain (421 million nights, +4.3% compared with 2014) reinforced its top position in terms of tourism nights, ahead of France (413 mn, +2.8%), Italy (385 mn, +1.8%) and Germany (379 mn, +3.3%).

These early estimates, which include nights spent whether for business or leisure, come from a report issued by

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Number of nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments in the EU

(in billion nights)

Nights spent by non-residents

Nights spent by residents

3

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Highest growth in total tourism nights in Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic

The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in 2015 grew in the majority of Member States for which data are available, with the largest increases being observed in Romania (+15.9%), Slovakia (+11.5%), the Czech Republic (+10.3%), Croatia (+7.9%), Slovenia (+7.5%) and Poland (+6.9%). In contrast, the largest fall was recorded in Lithuania (-7.4%), followed at a distance by Latvia (-1.3%) and Bulgaria (-1.1%).

Slightly more than 1 in 5 non-resident tourism nights spent in Spain

After the two Mediterranean island Member States, Malta (96%) and Cyprus (94%), the highest shares of nights spent by non-residents in 2015 were registered in Croatia (92%), Greece (79%) and Austria (71%), while residents made up the largest part of total tourism nights spent notably in Poland and Romania (both with only 19% of tourism nights by non-residents), Germany (21%) and Sweden (25%).

In the EU, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments by non-residents grew faster (+3.5%) between 2014 and 2015 that those spent by residents (+3.0%). In 2015, the largest increases in nights spent by non-residents were observed in Romania (+18.3%), Slovakia (+12.8%) and Sweden (+9.6%), and by residents also in Romania (+15.3%), ahead of the Czech Republic (+15.0%).

In absolute figures, Spain (268 million nights, or 21% of the total of nights spent by non-residents in the EU), Italy (191 mn, or 15%) and France (134 mn, or 11%) recorded the highest number of nights spent by non-residents in their tourism accommodation establishments.

Nights spent at tourism accommodation establishments

2015*, in millions			Share of nights spent by non-residents in total nights spent, 2015	Change 2015/2014, %
Total	of which:			Total	of which:
	Non-residents	Residents			Non-residents	Residents
EU**	2 766	1 259	1 507	46%	3.2	3.5	3.0
Belgium	38.0	18.7	19.3	49%	b	b	b
Bulgaria	21.5	13.4	8.1	62%	-1.1	-5.1	6.2
Czech Republic	47.4	23.4	24.0	49%	10.3	6.0	15.0
Denmark	30.7	11.1	19.6	36%	3.6	4.5	3.1
Germany	379.0	79.0	300.0	21%	3.3	5.7	2.6
Estonia	5.8	3.8	2.0	65%	-0.7	-4.3	6.6
Ireland	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Greece	96.0	75.8	20.1	79%	0.9	1.5	-1.6
Spain	421.2	267.7	153.5	64%	4.3	3.1	6.6
France	413.5	133.9	279.6	32%	2.8	2.3	3.0
Croatia	71.3	65.7	5.6	92%	7.9	7.6	11.6
Italy	385.1	190.8	194.3	50%	1.8	2.1	1.6
Cyprus	14.2	13.2	0.9	94%	3.2	2.8	9.6
Latvia	4.1	2.9	1.3	69%	-1.3	-0.8	-2.3
Lithuania	6.0	2.9	3.0	49%	-7.4	-3.1	-11.3
Luxembourg	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Hungary	26.9	12.8	14.2	47%	3.4	3.3	3.5
Malta	8.9	8.5	0.4	96%	1.3	1.2	3.9
Netherlands	103.3	37.0	66.3	36%	2.4	6.7	0.1
Austria	113.7	80.7	33.1	71%	3.0	3.3	2.2
Poland	71.1	13.7	57.4	19%	6.9	5.6	7.2
Portugal	55.6	36.5	19.1	66%	0.5	1.7	-1.8
Romania	23.4	4.5	19.0	19%	15.9	18.3	15.3
Slovenia	9.9	6.3	3.6	64%	7.5	8.1	6.6
Slovakia	12.0	4.3	7.7	36%	11.5	12.8	10.8
Finland	19.7	5.5	14.2	28%	-0.6	-4.5	1.0
Sweden	54.7	13.4	41.3	25%	4.7	9.6	3.2
United Kingdom	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Iceland	6.9	5.9	1.0	86%	25.3	33.9	-9.6
Liechtenstein	0.1	0.1	0.0	98%	-16.1	-16.4	-2.7
Norway	31.8	8.8	22.9	28%	4.8	8.5	3.5
FYR of Macedonia	1.6	1.0	0.6	62%	7.8	13.4	-0.4
Serbia	6.6	2.5	4.2	37%	11.5	18.3	7.8

Figures may not add up due to rounding.

: Available data not sufficient for reliable estimates. b Data not shown due to a break in series.

* 2015 estimates based on 10 months data as available, except Belgium, Denmark, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Finland and Sweden for which 2015 data are estimated based on 11 months.

** EU aggregates are rounded based on estimates for missing Member State data. The source dataset can be found here.

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.

Under the Statistical classification of economic activities (NACE Rev. 2), tourism 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.

For more information

Eurostat Statistics Explained article on nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments. Eurostat website section dedicated to statistics on tourism.

Eurostat database on tourism.

Issued by: Eurostat Press Office

Vincent BOURGEAIS Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]

ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Production of data:

Krista DIMITRAKOPOULOU Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]

@EU_Eurostat

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