In December the number of tourists in accommodation establishments decreased

According to Statistics Estonia, in December 2008 148,000 tourists used the services of accommodation establishments, which was 12% less than in the same month of the previous year.

Compared to December 2007, the number of domestic and foreign tourists decreased (19% and 5%, respectively). The number of tourists from Russia and Sweden increased. In December about 11,000 tourists from Russia used the services of accommodation establishments of Estonia, which was one third more than in the same month of the previous year but about a thousand tourists less than in December 2006. 45% of accommodated tourists were Estonian residents, 30% came from Finland, 7% from Russia and 18% came from other countries. In December 658 accommodation establishments offered accommodation services for tourists. 16,200 rooms and 34,400 beds were available for tourists. The room occupancy rate was 32%. The average cost of a guest night in an accommodation establishment was 471 kroons.

In 2008, the total of 2.4 million tourists stayed in accommodation establishments. Compared to the previous year, the number of tourists did not change significantly. The number of foreign tourists increased 4% and the number of domestic tourists decreased 2%. The number of tourists from Russia increased most. In 2008 compared to 2007, 26,000 tourists more from Russia and 21,000 tourists more from Finland used the services of accommodation establishments. The number of tourists from the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden decreased in accommodation establishments.

Accommodation by regions, December 2008

Accommodation	Total	Northern Estonia	North-eastern Estonia	Central Estonia	Western Estonia	Southern Estonia
Accommodation establishments	658	148	49	55	184	222
Rooms	16 235	7 599	1 123	784	3 682	3 047
Beds	34 359	15 297	2 278	1 812	7 947	7 025
Room occupancy rate, %	32	37	28	21	31	23
Bed occupancy rate, %	26	32	25	16	25	18
Tourists accommodated	147 720	85 634	8 705	6 337	24 529	22 515
Nights spent	278 185	150 413	17 903	8 857	61 889	39 123
residents of Estonia	109 816	27 661	13 427	7 580	28 618	32 530
foreign visitors	168 369	122 752	4 476	1 277	33 271	6 593
Average cost of a guest night, kroons	471	550	442	392	361	371

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.