Greek Hotels Recorded Highest Increase In Overnight Visits In EU Last Year

Greece recorded the highest increase in the number of nights spent in hotels last year among all 28 European Union member states, according to data released by Eurostat.

More specifically, overnight visits in Greece increased by 11.9 percent in 2013 compared to the year before. That increase translated to 87.3 million nights spent at the country’s tourism accommodation establishments, of which 68.8 million overnights were made by foreign visitors and 18.5 million were made by Greeks.

When comparing the overnight visits made in 2013 with those of 2012, Eurostat data showed that non-resident overnight visits increased by 13.2 percent. Overnight visits made by Greeks also increased by 6.7 percent.

Tourism in the EU28

In 2013, the number of nights spent in tourism accommodation establishments in the EU28 reached a peak of 2.6 billion nights, up by 1.6 percent compared with 2012.

The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in 2013 increased in nearly all Member States except for Italy (-4.6 percent), Cyprus (-3.7 percent), the Czech Republic (-1.2 percent), Finland (-0.7 percent) and Belgium (-0.5 percent).

The largest increases were recorded in Greece (+11.7 percent), Malta (+7.8 percent), Latvia (+7.3 percent), the United Kingdom (+6.5 percent), Bulgaria (+6.2 percent), Slovakia (+5.5 percent) and Hungary (+5.0 percent).

The Member States that accounted for 70 percent of the total number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the EU28 were France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom.