Eurostat Records Drop in Greece Overnight Stays for 2019

The number of overnight stays at Greek accommodation facilities dropped by 3 percent in 2019, according to figures released by the EU’s statistical agency Eurostat.

More specifically, according to recently released data, Greece’s tourist accommodation facilities, which include hotels, rooms to let, holiday homes, hostels, and campsites recorded a total of 119.4 million overnight stays in 2019, a 3 percent drop compared to 2018 levels.

Greece and Malta were the only two EU member states to see declines – by 3.0 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively – in overnight figures.

Of the 119.4 million, the large majority (or 83 percent) at 99.6 million was by international visitors and 19.7 million by domestic holidaymakers, who stayed less overall marking a 3.7 percent decline against a 2.9 percent drop of non-resident stays compared to 2018.

Since 2009, the number of nights spent at EU tourist accommodation facilities has been rising driven by an increase in nights spent by non-residents.

Greece together with Malta, Cyprus, Croatia, and Luxembourg are the EU countries with the highest rate of overnight stays by international travelers against residents.

Romania, meanwhile, recorded the highest share of nights spent by residents, and Malta of nights spent by non-residents.

Overall, according to Eurostat, 2019 saw the number of nights spent in EU tourist accommodation facilities increase by 2.4 percent to more than 3.2 billion compared to 2018.

In 2019, Spain recorded 469 million nights, up by 0.5 percent compared with 2018, followed by France (446 million, +0.8 percent), Germany (436 million, +4.0 percent), Italy (433 million, +0.9 percent), and the UK (375 million, +5.7 percent).