Greece was among the EU countries with the highest shares of overnight stays spent by non-residents last year, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, on Tuesday. However, residents spent less nights in Greek tourist accommodation in 2015 compared with 2014.
After the two Mediterranean island Member States, Malta (96 percent) and Cyprus (94 percent), the highest shares of nights spent by non-residents in 2015 were registered in Croatia (92 percent), Greece (79 percent) and Austria (71 percent). Residents made up the largest part of total tourism nights spent notably in Poland and Romania (both with only 19 percent of tourism nights by non-residents), Germany (21 percent) and Sweden (25 percent).
In the EU, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments by non-residents grew faster (+3.5 percent) between 2014 and 2015 that those spent by residents (+3.0 percent).
Eurostat’s early estimates, which include nights spent whether for business or leisure, were based on available data of the first 10 months of 2015.
New peak of almost 2.8 bn tourism nights spent in the EU in 2015
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 percent 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 percent compared with 2014) reinforced its top position in terms of tourism nights, ahead of France (413 mn, +2.8 percent%), Italy (385 mn, +1.8 percent) and Germany (379 mn, +3.3 percent).
Greece
Tourism nights (non-residents and residents) in Greece increased by 0.9 percent in 2015 compared to the year before. In total, 96 million nights were spent at the country’s tourism accommodation establishments, of which 75.8 million were made by non-residents and 20.1 million were made by residents.
In 2015, the nights spent by residents in tourist accommodation in Greece dropped by 1.6 percent.
