EU Breaks New Record with 2.9bn Overnight Stays in 2023

European Union destinations managed to surpass pre-pandemic 2019 overnight stay levels by 1.6 percent in 2023 reaching 2.92 billion compared to 2.87 billion, Eurostat said this week.

Compared to a year earlier, 171 million more nights were spent at EU accommodation facilities in 2023 marking a 6.3 percent rise. A total of 146 million international and 25 million domestic guests spent nights in the EU boosting tourism levels by 25 percent, the highest since 2013 and 2.33 billion nights spent.

International travelers accounted for 46 percent of the total nights spent in 2023. However, in terms of volume, international tourism is still down by 0.4 percent compared with 2019.

Greece among the best performing

According to the report, nearly all EU states recorded an increase in 2023 over 2022 with Greece being among the best performing. Growth in Malta and Cyprus exceeded 20 percent and by 10 percent in Greece, Slovakia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Austria, Czech Republic, Portugal, and Romania.

The biggest increase in nights spent was reported in Germany (+32.8 million nights) and Spain (+32.3 million nights) while Luxembourg marked a 0.1 percent decrease.

Looking at type of accommodation, 63 percent or 1.8 billion nights were spent in hotels and similar accommodation, 24 percent at holiday and other short-stay accommodation units, and 13 percent at campsites.