In autumn the number of tourists in accommodation establishments declined

According to Statistics Estonia, in September 176,000 tourists stayed in accommodation establishments. The number of tourists decreased by 12,000 compared to September of the previous year.

The share of foreign tourists was continually about two thirds of the total number of accommodated tourists, although the number of foreign tourists decreased by 6% compared to September of the previous year. The number of tourists decreased from Finland, Sweden and Norway, however the number of tourists from Russia increased. As a total of the nine months, the number of foreign tourists increased by 4% compared to the same period of the previous year.

In September 62,000 Estonian residents stayed in accommodation establishments of Estonia, which were 8% less than in the same period a year ago. During the first five months of the year the number of domestic tourists increased by 5%, but in summer, during the high season of tourism in Estonia, the number of domestic tourists decreased in accommodation establishments. As a total of the nine months, the number of domestic tourists still stayed on the level of the previous year.

In September 799 accommodation establishments offered accommodation services for tourists. In connection with the end of the tourism season, more than a hundred accommodation establishments that were seasonally open in summer shut their doors. In September, 17,800 rooms and 38,600 beds were available for tourists. The room occupancy rate was 40% and it was four percentage points smaller than in September of the previous year.

The average cost of a guest night in an accommodation establishment was 538 kroons, which was by 4 kroons cheaper compared to September 2007.

Accommodation by regions, September 2008

Accommodation	Total	Northern Estonia	North-eastern Estonia	Central Estonia	Western Estonia	Southern Estonia
Accommodation establishments	799	172	54	65	263	245
Rooms	17 763	7 912	1 341	861	4 414	3 235
Beds	38 611	16 155	2 920	2 078	9 850	7 608
Room occupancy rate, %	40	50	25	28	35	31
Bed occupancy rate, %	30	39	20	20	28	22
Tourists accommodated	176 449	103 564	8 631	7 642	28 327	28 285
Nights spent	350 820	187 691	17 888	12 273	82 604	50 364
residents of Estonia	109 512	31 474	11 590	9 419	24 918	32 111
foreign visitors	241 308	156 217	6 298	2 854	57 686	18 253
Average cost of a guest night, kroons	538	638	501	373	425	404

For further information:

Helga Laurmaa
Leading Statistician
Services Statistics Service
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 625 9261

More detailed data have been published in the Statistical Database.