Tourism, accommodation and food service

Travelling is a great way to see life in neighbouring countries or in faraway places. Hundreds of millions of people travel every day – for work, vacation or to broaden one’s horizons. Visa-free travel in the Schengen area and the adoption of the euro have encouraged people to visit Estonia and made it easier for Estonian people to travel abroad. World Tourism Day is celebrated each year on September 27.

Statistics Estonia publishes the following tourism statistics:

  • travelling of Estonian residents, including number of domestic and foreign trips, purposes of trips, destination countries and expenditures on trips;
  • accommodated tourists and their nights spent;
  • number of accommodation establishments, rooms and bed places;
  • border crossings of non-residents, including their countries of residence, purposes of visit and expenditures on the trip;
  • economic indicators of tourism, accommodation and food service activities.

In-depth knowledge on tourism volumes, the characteristics of tourists and costs and benefits for the national economy allow assessing the role of tourism in general economic development. Evaluating the impact of seasonal demand helps to develop a strategy for alleviating seasonality. The statistics on border crossings are an important basis for developing tourism, as they provide information on the countries of residence of tourists and their reasons for visiting.

Domestic overnight trips of Estonian residents 780.4 thousands
8.1%
Q4 2024
Outbound overnight trips of Estonian residents 298.1 thousands
-6.1%
Q4 2024
Expenditure on domestic overnight trips of Estonian residents 176.5 euros
5.8%
Q4 2024
Expenditure on outbound overnight trips of Estonian residents 1,180.5 euros
0.6%
Q4 2024
Accommodated tourists in accommodation establishments 230,410
2.4%
FEBRUARY 2025
Accommodation establishments 907
0.7%
JANUARY 2025
Rooms in accommodation establishments 21,419
3.1%
FEBRUARY 2025
Bed places in accommodation establishments 48,416
2.6%
FEBRUARY 2025
Nights spent by accommodated tourists 406,872
-0.6%
FEBRUARY 2025
Domestic overnight trips of Estonian residents | 2024
Outbound overnight trips of Estonian residents | 2024
Overnight domestic trips of Estonian residents by main purpose of trip | 2011 – 2024
Unit: thousand
Total Professional, business Holidays, leisure and recreation Visits to friends and relatives Other
2011 1,561.2 147.3 519.0 879.5 ..
2012 1,761.1 157.1 685.0 899.1 ..
2013 1,733.6 177.2 676.2 866.9 13.3
2014 2,572.3 316.3 831.5 1,406.4 18.2
2015 2,704.4 321.7 1,029.7 1,275.2 77.7
2016 3,253.6 427.0 1,265.6 1,485.3 75.7
2017 3,276.7 406.3 1,366.5 1,376.3 127.6
2018 4,399.1 445.1 2,030.9 1,795.2 127.8
2019 3,486.3 410.9 1,600.6 1,330.3 144.5
2020 2,135.6 190.1 1,198.7 689.4 57.5
2021 2,266.5 206.4 1,354.6 633.8 71.7
2022 2,639.9 253.6 1,523.6 767.0 95.7
2023 3,231.3 358.4 1,745.2 978.7 149.0
2024 3,479.5 390.0 1,917.5 1,057.4 114.6

Outbound overnight trips of Estonian residents by main purpose of trip | 2011 – 2024
Unit: thousand
Total Professional, business Holidays, leisure and recreation Visits to friends and relatives Other
2011 1,054.2 232.3 457.8 359.6 ..
2012 1,146.8 236.9 574.7 312.4 22.8
2013 1,165.8 272.4 652.4 233.4 ..
2014 1,425.5 395.6 701.1 311.2 17.6
2015 1,249.9 338.9 686.8 213.2 ..
2016 1,339.3 422.7 684.6 223.3 ..
2017 1,279.4 318.9 753.0 194.6 ..
2018 2,068.5 502.0 1,228.4 305.1 33.0
2019 1,701.5 400.3 999.6 251.4 50.2
2020 558.1 140.7 337.8 65.3 ..
2021 574.5 135.5 335.8 89.2 ..
2022 1,090.0 162.6 722.2 161.1 44.1
2023 1,512.8 286.1 984.4 193.3 48.9
2024 1,545.6 314.8 972.8 210.1 47.9

Capacity of accommodation establishments | 2015 – 2023
Number of accommodation establishments Number of bedrooms Number of bed places
2015 1,417 23,754 58,072
2016 1,454 24,503 59,471
2017 1,500 25,222 61,663
2018 1,535 24,983 61,193
2019 1,424 25,168 60,957
2020 1,327 24,556 59,640
2021 1,324 24,489 59,486
2022 1,337 25,415 61,971
2023 1,307 25,326 61,904

News

The number of foreign tourists reached 2019 levels

According to Statistics Estonia, accommodation establishments served 230,000 tourists in February 2025, which is 2% more than in the same month a year earlier. There were 3% more foreign and 2% more domestic tourists.

Read more 10. April 2025