Number of nights spent

Tourism, in a statistical context, refers to the activity of visitors taking a trip to a destination outside their usual environment, for less than a year. It is important to note that this definition is wider than the common everyday definition, insofar as it encompasses not only private leisure trips but also visits to family and friends, as well as business trips.

In 2018, there were 2.8 billion nights spent in tourist accommodation across the EU-27. This figure refers to the total number of nights spent by all tourists and reflects both the length of stay and the number of tourists. It is considered a key indicator for analysing the tourism sector, even if it does not cover stays at non-rented accommodation nor same-day visits.

Map 1 shows information on the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation by both residents and non-residents for NUTS level 2 regions. In 2018, there were 25 regions in the EU (out of 238 for which data are available; note that data for Ireland are presented at a national level) where at least 30.0 million nights were spent in tourist accommodation. This list was largely composed of coastal regions, underlining that the beauty, culture and diversity of the EU’s coastal regions has made them a preferred destination for many holidaymakers. A total of 1.3 billion nights were spent in tourist accommodation across these 25 regions. As such, approximately one tenth of the EU regions accounted for a cumulative share of close to 45 % of the total nights spent. This high concentration of tourist numbers in relatively few locations has led to concerns around sustainable development.



(million nights spent, by NUTS 2 regions)

Source: Eurostat Map 1: Nights spent in tourist accommodation, 2018(million nights spent, by NUTS 2 regions)Eurostat (tour_occ_nin2)

The three regions with the highest number of tourist nights in the EU were the island region of Canarias (Spain), Île-de-France (the French capital) and Jadranska Hrvatska (on the Adriatic coast in Croatia)

The list of the EU regions with the highest numbers of tourist nights in 2018 is dominated by coastal regions around the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, the highest number of nights spent in tourist accommodation was recorded in Spain’s Atlantic island destination of Canarias (99.9 million). Several other coastal regions featured in the top 10: the Adriatic region of Jadranska Hrvatska (Croatia; 84.8 million), four more Spanish regions — Cataluña (81.8 million), Illes Balears (70.2 million), Andalucía (69.6 million) and Comunidad Valenciana (49.8 million) — Veneto (Italy; 69.2 million) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (France; 54.8 million). The top 10 was completed by two non-coastal regions, both of which were located in France: the capital region of Île-de-France (which had the second highest number of nights spent in tourist accommodation at 86.0 million) and Rhône-Alpes (50.9 million).

In 2018, there was an annual increase of 2.6 % in the number of nights spent in EU-27 tourist accommodation

Between 2010 and 2018, the number of nights spent in EU-27 tourist accommodation increased by 28.7 % overall. Annual increases ranged between 1.5 % and 5.0 % per year over this period, with the latest annual growth rate — for 2018 — equal to 2.6 %.

Map 2 presents regional information for the annual rate of change in the total number of nights spent in tourist accommodation between 2017 and 2018. More than four fifths of NUTS level 2 regions recorded an increase in their number of nights spent during this period (as shown by the blue shades in Map 2). This was the case for 199 out of the 238 EU regions for which data are available (note again that data for Ireland are presented at a national level). There were three regions where the change in the number of nights spent was less than 0.1 % (also shown in blue), while the remaining 36 regions recorded a decline (as shown by the orange shades).

Between 2017 and 2018, approximately one third of all EU regions recorded an increase of at least 5.0 % in their total number of nights spent in tourist accommodation. The highest growth rates were recorded in Ipeiros (north-west Greece; 28.5 %), Groningen (the Netherlands; 21.2 %) and Notio Aigaio (a Greek island region in the southern Aegean; 17.1 %). Among these, Notio Aigaio was the only region with high levels of tourism (30.8 million nights spent in 2018), while Ipeiros and Groningen both had less than 3.0 million.

An analysis of the top 10 tourist destinations in the EU reveals a variety of developments between 2017 and 2018. Among these regions, Île-de-France recorded by far the highest growth rate in terms of nights spent (up 7.3 %). By contrast, there was a decline in the total number of nights spent in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and in four of the top five Spanish destinations (the exception being Andalucía). The largest decline among these regions was recorded in Canarias (-4.3 %), which nevertheless remained the most frequented destination in the EU.



(%, by NUTS 2 regions)

Source: Eurostat Map 2: Annual rate of change for nights spent in tourist accommodation, 2017-2018(%, by NUTS 2 regions)Eurostat (tour_occ_nin2)

The three destinations with the highest number of nights spent by resident tourists were French: Île-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Rhône-Alpes

In 2018, domestic tourists (hereafter referred to as resident tourists) accounted for 1.5 billion nights spent in tourist accommodation across the EU-27. This figure was 10 % higher than the 1.3 billion nights spent by international (or non-resident) tourists; note that the latter includes tourists from other EU Member States as well as from non-member countries.

Figure 1 presents the most frequented tourist destinations for both resident and non-resident tourists. The ranking for resident tourists is dominated by relatively large EU Member States, as they have a larger number of potential clients. In 2018, the three most frequented regions across the EU for resident tourists were all located in France. There were 38.6 million nights spent by residents in tourist accommodation within Île-de-France, while Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (37.1 million) and Rhône-Alpes (35.7 million) recorded almost as many nights. Within Spain, Andalucía had the highest number of nights spent by residents (31.5 million), across Italy the most frequented region for resident tourists was Emilia-Romagna (29.8 million), while Schleswig-Holstein had the highest number of nights spent by residents in Germany (28.8 million).

The second half of Figure 1 shows that non-resident tourists often flocked to the most frequented holiday destinations in the EU. The large number of nights spent by international tourists in some of these regions may result in considerable pressures on the environment and sustainability, especially as many non-residents arrive by air (particularly for some of the island regions) and tend to travel during high/peak seasons. In 2018, three of the top four most frequented destinations in the EU for non-residents were located in Spain: Canarias (88.2 million nights in tourist accommodation), Illes Balears (64.0 million) and Cataluña (54.4 million). The second most frequented destination for non-residents was Jadranska Hrvatska (79.7 million).



(million nights spent in tourist accommodation, by NUTS 2 regions)

Source: Eurostat Figure 1: Top tourist regions in the EU, 2018(million nights spent in tourist accommodation, by NUTS 2 regions)Eurostat (tour_occ_nin2)

More than 19 out of 20 nights spent in Kriti and Malta were attributed to non-resident tourists

Figure 2 extends the analysis of the most frequented destinations by providing information about those regions that were most dependent upon resident and non-resident tourists. In 2018, residents accounted for 52.4 % of the total number of nights spent in EU-27 tourist accommodation.

There were 16 NUTS level 2 regions where at least 90.0 % of nights spent in tourist accommodation in 2018 were attributed to residents. The highest share (96.1 %) was recorded in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany) on the Baltic Sea, followed by two regions from Romania: Sud-Vest Oltenia (94.9 %) and Sud-Est (94.6 %). Just over half (11) of the 20 regions with the highest resident shares were located in Germany.

Non-resident tourists accounted for a majority of the nights spent in many of the EU’s most frequented tourist destinations. This was most notably the case in the Greek island region of Kriti — where 96.0 % of nights spent in tourist accommodation in 2018 were attributed to non-residents. There were also very high shares for non-residents in Malta (95.8 %) and Cyprus (94.7 %). Aside from coastal and island destinations, non-resident tourists also accounted for a fairly high proportion of the total nights spent in the mountainous western Austrian regions of Tirol and Vorarlberg, as well as several capital regions, for example Praha, Budapest, Wien and Bruxelles/Brussels.



(%, share of total nights spent by residents and non-residents, by NUTS 2 regions)

Source: Eurostat Figure 2: Nights spent in tourist accommodation, 2018(%, share of total nights spent by residents and non-residents, by NUTS 2 regions)Eurostat (tour_occ_nin2)

Almost three fifths of the nights spent by non-resident tourists in the EU-27 were in coastal areas

Coastal areas, from a statistical context, consist of local administrative units (LAUs) or municipalities that border the sea, or have at least half of their total surface area within 10 km of the sea. Note that five EU Member States — Czechia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia — are landlocked.

Figure 3 presents information on nights spent in coastal tourist accommodation, with an analysis for residents and non-residents. In 2018, almost three fifths (57.3 %) of the total nights spent by non-residents in EU-27 tourist accommodation were in coastal areas. The proportion of non-resident holidaymakers to visit coastal areas was usually higher in southern and eastern EU Member States characterised by climatic conditions conducive to beach holidays. More than four fifths of the total nights spent by non-residents in Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Portugal, Spain and Bulgaria were in coastal areas, although a small majority of nights spent by non-residents in Italy were in non-coastal areas.

In 2018, less than two fifths (38.4 %) of the total nights spent by residents in EU-27 tourist accommodation were in coastal areas — perhaps reflecting a higher proportion of nights linked to business travel or visits to towns and cities. This pattern was most apparent in Romania, Germany, Poland and Slovenia, where less than one quarter of all nights spent by resident tourists were in coastal areas.



(%, share of nights spent in tourist accommodation in all regions, by residents and non-residents)

Source: Eurostat Figure 3: Nights spent in tourist accommodation in coastal areas, 2018(%, share of nights spent in tourist accommodation in all regions, by residents and non-residents)Eurostat (tour_occ_ninatc)

Non-resident tourists were generally more likely (than residents) to spend their holidays in coastal areas. For example, in 2018 almost 9 out of every 10 (87.2 %) nights spent by non-residents in Spain were in coastal areas, whereas the corresponding share for residents was less than three fifths (57.8 %). A similar pattern was observed in three other southern EU Member States: Portugal, Cyprus and Greece. It was also repeated in two eastern holiday destinations, Bulgaria and Croatia. The disparity between resident and non-resident tourists was even greater in Bulgaria than it was in Spain, as 80.9 % of the total nights spent by non-residents were in coastal areas, compared with 36.4 % among residents.