EUROSTAT European Union Statistical Office : Number of tourism nights spent in the EU slightly up in 2016

17/2017 - 24 January 2017

Tourism in the EU

Number of tourism nights spent in the EU slightly up in 2016…

… despite substantial falls in France and the United Kingdom

In 2016, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the European Union (EU) is expected to have reached more than 2.8 billion, up by 2.0% compared with 2015. 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 of the Member State.

In 2016, Spain (454 million nights, +7.8% compared with 2015) accentuated its lead, ahead of France (395 mn,

-4.6%) and Italy (395 mn, +0.5%), Germany (390 mn, +2.8%) and the United Kingdom (292 mn, -4.5%).

These early estimates, which include nights spent whether for business or leisure, come from an article 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

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Highest growth in total tourism nights in Bulgaria and Slovakia

The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in 2016 grew in nearly all Member States for which data are available, with the largest increases being observed in Bulgaria (+17.9%) and Slovakia (+16.0%), followed by Poland (+11.8%) and Cyprus (+10.9%). In contrast, the only significant falls were registered in France (-4.6%, equivalent to 19 mn nights) and the United Kingdom (-4.5%, or nearly 14 mn nights).

Spain, top destination abroad

In the EU, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments by non-residents grew faster (+3.6%) between 2015 and 2016 than those spent by residents (+0.6%). Almost every EU Member State recorded an increase in the number of tourism nights spent by non-residents. A notable exception is France, where this number decreased by 8.7% (or almost 12 mn nights).

In absolute figures, Spain (294 million nights, or 22% of the total of nights spent by non-residents in the EU), Italy (196 mn, or 15%), France (122 mn, or 9%) and the United Kingdom (120 mn, or 9%) recorded the highest number of nights spent by non-residents in their tourism accommodation establishments.

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 website section dedicated to statistics on tourism. Eurostat database on tourism.

Eurostat Statistics Explained article on nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments.

Issued by: Eurostat Press Office

Vincent BOURGEAIS Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]

ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Production of data:

Renata LEWCZUK Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]

@EU_Eurostat

Media requests: Eurostat media support / Tel: [phone] / [e-mail] Nights spent at tourism accommodation establishments

2016*, in millions			Share of nights spent by non- residents in total nights spent, 2016	Change 2016/2015, %
Total	of which:			Total	of which:
	Non- residents	Residents			Non- residents	Residents
EU**	2 842	1 312	1 530	46%	+2.0	+3.6	+0.6
Belgium	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Bulgaria	25.2	16.2	9.1	64%	+17.9	+21.0	+12.8
Czech Republic	49.7	24.1	25.6	49%	+5.6	+3.7	+7.5
Denmark	32.2	11.6	20.6	36%	+4.5	+4.6	+4.4
Germany	389.6	79.9	309.7	20%	+2.8	+1.2	+3.2
Estonia	6.2	4.0	2.2	64%	+7.7	+6.4	+10.2
Ireland	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Greece	99.8	78.4	21.4	79%	+1.2	+0.2	+4.9
Spain	454.3	294.3	160.0	65%	+7.8	+9.3	+5.1
France	394.6	121.8	272.8	31%	-4.6	-8.7	-2.6
Croatia	77.7	72.0	5.7	93%	+7.7	+9.6	-11.9
Italy	394.6	195.7	198.9	50%	+0.5	+1.6	-0.6
Cyprus	14.8	14.1	0.8	95%	+10.9	+12.0	-5.8
Latvia	4.4	3.0	1.4	69%	+7.3	+5.8	+10.8
Lithuania	7.1	3.3	3.8	47%	+7.3	+9.8	+5.2
Luxembourg	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Hungary	29.1	13.7	15.4	47%	+8.1	+7.5	+8.7
Malta	8.8	8.5	0.3	96%	-0.8	-0.5	-8.2
Netherlands	106.7	39.6	67.1	37%	+3.0	+6.6	+1.0
Austria	118.8	84.2	34.6	71%	+4.8	+4.8	+4.8
Poland	79.6	15.6	64.0	20%	+11.8	+13.1	+11.4
Portugal	60.6	40.5	20.0	67%	+1.7	+4.0	-2.7
Romania	25.4	4.9	20.6	19%	+8.5	+8.9	+8.4
Slovenia	10.6	6.9	3.7	65%	+7.3	+10.3	+1.9
Slovakia	14.1	5.1	9.0	36%	+16.0	+15.6	+16.3
Finland	20.1	5.6	14.5	28%	+1.8	+1.9	+1.7
Sweden	56.1	13.9	42.2	25%	+2.5	+3.1	+2.3
United Kingdom	291.9	119.8	172.1	41%	-4.5	+1.6	-8.3
Iceland	8.0	6.8	1.2	85%	+18.7	+18.5	+20.0
Liechtenstein	0.1	0.1	0.0	98%	+15.6	+15.0	+48.5
Norway	33.2	9.8	23.4	30%	+4.8	+11.4	+2.3
Switzerland	35.4	19.2	16.3	54%	-0.5	-1.9	+1.2
Montenegro	11.2	10.5	0.7	94%	+1.6	+2.0	-4.5
FYR of Macedonia	1.7	1.0	0.6	62%	+3.2	+2.6	+4.1
Serbia	7.5	2.7	4.8	36%	+13.0	+12.2	+13.4

Figures may not add up due to rounding.

: Available data not sufficient for reliable estimates.

* 2016 estimates based on 10 months data as available, except Denmark, Spain and Croatia for which 2016 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.