Number of domestic tourists falling for several months in a row, number of foreign tourists grew in June

News
Posted on 8 August 2023, 8:00

According to Statistics Estonia, 337,000 tourists stayed in accommodation establishments in June 2023, the same as in June last year. The number of foreign tourists increased, while the number of domestic tourists decreased.

Helga Laurmaa, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that nearly 163,000 foreign tourists were accommodated in Estonia in June. “Foreign arrivals did not yet reach the pre-crisis level of June 2019, remaining a third lower, but compared with June 2022, the number of foreign tourists increased by 9%,” Laurmaa added. The number of domestic tourists fell for the third month in a row – it was down 5% in April, 6% in May, and 7% in June, compared with the corresponding month of last year. On the other hand, there were 14% more domestic tourists than in June 2019.

The largest share of tourists in Estonian accommodation establishments again arrived from Finland  43% of foreign tourists. This was followed by Latvia, Germany, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, Sweden, and Asian countries. Compared with June 2022, there were more tourists from European countries as well as from countries further away. The number of Finnish tourists was up by 17%, German tourists by 8%, and Lithuanian tourists by 10%. More tourists than a year earlier also arrived from the UK, the US, Poland, and Sweden. The number of tourists arriving from Asia doubled in a year but remained several times below the pre-pandemic levels. The number of arrivals from Latvia, however, was down by 9% compared with June last year. 80% of the foreign tourists were on holiday and 15% were travelling on business. 68% of the foreign tourists stayed in accommodation establishments in Harju county, followed by Pärnu (13%), Tartu (7%), Saare (4%), and Ida-Viru (2%) counties. Lääne, Lääne-Viru, Valga, Viljandi, and Võru counties each accommodated 1% of the foreign tourists. Foreign travellers spent a total of nearly 324,000 nights in Estonia.

174,000 domestic tourists stayed in accommodation establishments in June. 73% them were on holiday and 18% were on business trips. The largest share of domestic tourists, nearly a quarter, was accommodated in Harju county, 16% in Pärnu county, 10% in Ida-Viru county, and 8% in both Saare and Tartu counties. Lääne-Viru and Valga county each accommodated 6% of domestic tourists. In total, domestic tourists spent 302,000 nights in accommodation establishments.

In June, 1,221 accommodation establishments served visitors in Estonia, which is 158 more than in May. There were 23,000 rooms and 57,000 bed places available for guests. The room occupancy rate was 48%. The average cost of a guest night was 47 euros per person, which is 6 euros more than in June 2022 and 17 euros more than in June 2019. The average cost of a guest night increased by 15% year on year. The average cost of an overnight stay per person was 55 euros in Harju county, 49 euros in Pärnu county, 46 euros in Lääne-Viru county, 44 euros in Tartu county, 43 euros in Ida-Viru county, and 33 euros in Saare county. The average cost of overnight accommodation grew in most counties.

Statistics Estonia collects and analyses accommodation data for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications with the aim to determine the economic situation in Estonia.

See also the dedicated section on tourism, accommodation and food service and the tourism industry dashboard.

More detailed data have been published in the statistical database.

When using Statistics Estonia’s data and graphs, please indicate the source.

For further information:

Vahur Koorits
Communications Partner

Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia

Tel +372 625 9204

press [at] stat.ee (press[at]stat[dot]ee)

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