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Data extracted in January 2025

Planned article update: December 2025

Highlights

EU residents made over 1.1 billion trips with overnight stays in 2023.
In 2023, EU residents spent 93% of their tourism trips inside the European Union.
In 2023, EU residents made over 110 million business trips, representing 10% of the total number of tourism trips.

[[File:Trends in number of trips nights spent and average duration of trips made by EU residents 2007-2023 v2.xlsx]]

Trends in number of trips, nights spent and average duration of trips made by EU residents, 2007-2023

  • Source: Eurostat (online data codes: tour_dem_ttq, tour_dem_tttot, tour_dem_tnq, tour_dem_tntot)

This article is part of the Eurostat online publication Tourism trips of Europeans providing statistics on tourism demand in the European Union (EU) and EFTA countries.

The article takes a closer look at trips that EU residents (aged 15 years and over) made in 2023, with a focus on the characteristics of these trips. Specific aspects such as top destinations, seasonality and expenditure on tourism trips are dealt with in more detail elsewhere in other articles of this publication. This article concentrates on analysis for the European Union at aggregate level. More detailed information at country level is available in the online database.

General overview

During 2023, EU residents made over 1.1 billion trips with overnight stays - regardless of destination and duration (see Table 1). During these trips, 5.7 billion tourism nights were spent. Of these trips, 9.6% were trips for professional purposes, while the remaining 90.4% were trips made for personal purposes (see Figure 1). The highest number of trips was made by residents of Germany (251 million trips), followed by France (239 million trips) and Spain (147 million trips). The trips made by the residents of these 3 countries accounted for more than half (55.7%) of all EU residents' trips.

a table showing the Trips, nights spent and average length of trips made by EU residents by destination in 2023 in the EU and EU countries. The columns show the number of trips, domestic and foreign, the number of nights, domestic and foreign and the average length of trips, domestic and foreign.
Table 1: Trips, nights spent and average length of trips made by EU residents by destination, 2023
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_tttot), (tour_dem_tntot)


A vertical stacked bar chart showing Trips made by EU residents by purpose, duration and destination in 2023. The bars show all trips, from 1-3 nights, 4 nights or over, domestic and foreign and the stacks on each bar show the purpose of holidays, leisure and recreation; visits to relatives and friends; other personal and professional, business.
Figure 1: Trips made by EU residents by purpose, duration and destination, 2023 (million)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttpur)

On average for the EU, nearly 3 out of 4 (72.9%) trips were domestic trips. Nine out of 10 trips made by residents of Romania (91.2%) and Spain (89.1%) had a main destination inside their own country. In 6 EU countries foreign trips accounted for more than half of all tourism trips: Luxembourg (94.0%), Belgium (75.4%), Malta (62.8%), Slovenia (54.1%), the Netherlands (53.0%) and Cyprus (51.7%).

Τourism trips made in the course of 2023 were dominated by short domestic breaks of 1 to 3 overnight stays (48.8% of all tourism trips, see Table 2). Trips of 4 nights or more accounted for 43.5% of all tourism trips (24.1% with a domestic destination and 19.4% with a destination outside the country of residence).

Europeans prefer trips inside their own country of residence

Although EU residents spent most of their trips inside their own country, 2 out of 3 of these domestic trips were short breaks of 1 to 3 overnight stays (see Table 3). Given the relatively short duration of domestic trips (on average 3.9 nights, as compared with 7.8 nights for foreign trips, see Table 1), the proportion of nights spent on domestic trips within all tourism nights was - at 57.4% - lower than the 72.9% share of domestic trips in all tourism trips. The highest number of domestic trips was in France, with nearly 208 million accounting for 24.9% of all domestic trips made by Europeans. As regards foreign trips, German tourists came on top, with over 102 million foreign trips (32.9% of all foreign trips made by Europeans).

a table showing the Trips of EU residents by duration and destination in 2023 in the EU and EU countries. The columns show the number of trips and the share by duration and destination.
Table 2: Trips of EU residents by duration and destination, 2023
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttw)

The EU is an attractive destination for its residents

More than 3 out of 3 foreign trips had as main destination another EU country, accounting for 229 million trips out of a total of 310 million foreign trips. Taking into account the 834 million domestic trips, this means that 92.8% of all trips with overnight stays that EU residents made in 2023 were within the European Union. Even when restricting the analysis to longer trips of at least 4 overnight stays – more likely to be further away from home – 86.7% were spent within the EU. Only in 4 EU countries was the share of trips outside the EU 14% or more: Ireland (22.7%), Luxembourg (15.4%), Cyprus (14.8%) and Malta (14.1%) (see Table 2). There is more detailed information on the destinations EU residents chose for their trips in a separate article.

84% of all trips made in 2023 lasted a maximum of 1 week

In 2023, 56.5% of the tourism trips that EU residents made were short, taking a maximum of 3 overnight stays (see Table 2 and Figure 2). More than 2 out of 3 trips made by residents of Estonia, Latvia, Portugal and Spain were short trips. In 6 EU countries, the number of long trips exceeded the number of short trips: Greece (74.6%), Belgium (57.1%), Luxembourg (56.9%), Italy (56.5%), Germany (52.5%), and the Netherlands (52.1%).

a horizontal bar chart showing Trips made by EU residents by duration in 2023. The bars show the duration. 1 night, 2 nights, 3 nights, 4-7 nights, 8-14 nights, 15-28 nights, 29-91 nights, and 92 nights or more.
Figure 2: Trips made by EU residents by duration, 2023 (million)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttls)

The share of trips that lasted a maximum of 1 week was obtained by adding the short trips of 1 to 3 nights (56.5%) with the trips lasting 4 to 7 nights (27.7%), resulting in a dominant share of 84.2% of all trips made in 2023 (if we consider only trips for professional purposes this share was 94.0%). While only 9.7% of the domestic trips were longer than 1 week, this was the case for 32.1% of the trips abroad. Only 5.0% of all trips were longer than 2 weeks (see Table 3).

a table showing the Trips made by EU residents by duration, destination and purpose in 2023. The table shows the number of trips and the length of stay as a percentage of total.
Table 3: Trips made by EU residents by duration, destination and purpose, 2023
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttls)

Less than 1 in 10 trips was for professional purposes

More than half of the tourism trips (52.6%) had holidays, leisure and recreation as the main purpose, and almost 1 out of every 3 trips (32.4%) were to visit relatives and friends. The latter accounted for a big share of short trips and of domestic trips (see Figure 1). In total, – including other purposes such as pilgrimages or health treatment – trips for personal purposes made up 90.4% of all tourism trips in 2023.

In 2023, EU residents made over 110 million trips for professional purposes (e.g. business trips), representing 9.6% of the total number of tourism trips. Most of these trips were domestic (72.6%) and had a duration of maximum 3 nights (73.6%).

Over half of all overnight stays were in rented accommodation

EU residents made a total of 5.7 billion overnight stays during tourism trips in 2023 (see Table 1). More than half of these nights (56.3%) were spent in rented accommodation, while 43.7% were spent in non-rented accommodation (see Figure 3). Hotels or similar accommodation providing services such as daily cleaning and bed-making came on top with 30.3%, followed by accommodation provided without charge by relatives or friends with 28.4%, while 16.4% were spent at a rented house, villa, apartment or rented room(s) in a dwelling.

Rented accommodation was more prevalent for foreign trips (69.3%), while tourists travelling within their own country were more likely to stay at non-rented accommodation (53.2%), provided mainly for free by friends or relatives (34.5%).

Three pie charts showing the Nights spent by EU residents by main means of accommodation in 2023. One pie chart shows all trips, the second, domestic trips and the third, foreign trips. The segments on each pie chart show rented accommodation – hotels and similar, campsites, caravans or trailer parks, house, villa, apartment or rented room(s) in a dwelling and other; and non-rented accommodation – own holiday home, provided without charge by relatives or friends and other.
Figure 3: Nights spent by EU residents by main means of accommodation, 2023
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_tnac)

Looking only at nights spent in rented accommodation, in 2023 EU residents spent more than half of these tourism nights (53.8%) in hotels (or similar), close to 2013 level (54.8%). More than 1 out of 3 nights (37.0%) were spent in rented accommodation other than hotels or campsites (see Figure 4).

The segment of rented accommodation recorded an increase compared with 2013 (13.1%), with the highest increase recorded for the category other than hotels or campsites (20.8%). This latter category includes, among others, holiday dwellings, rented rooms in family houses and short-stay accommodation offered via online collaborative economy platforms. Non-rented accommodation decreased by -2.3% in all but 1 category, other (+124.3%), which is a small segmented of tourist accommodation (see Figure 5).

In 2023, EU residents spent an estimated EUR 199 billion on tourist accommodation (for more detailed information on tourism expenditure, see separate article).

two pie charts showing the Distribution of tourism nights spent in rented accommodation by EU residents, by mode of accommodation, 2013 and 2023. The pie charts represent the years 2013 and 2023 and the segments show the different types of rented accommodation, hotels and similar, campsites, caravans or trailer parks, other.
Figure 4: Distribution of tourism nights spent in rented accommodation by EU residents, by mode of accommodation, 2013-2023 (%)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_tnac)


column chart showing the Change in the number of tourism nights of EU residents, by mode of accommodation, in % change between 2013-2023. The columns show the different types of rented accommodation – total, hotels and similar, campsites, caravans or trailer parks, other and non-rented accommodation – total, own holiday home, provided without charge by relatives or friends and other.
Figure 5: Change in the number of tourism nights of EU residents, by mode of accommodation (% change 2013-2023)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_tnac)

More than 1 in 8 trips of Europeans were made by train

Motor vehicles (private or rented) were the main means of transport for 65.6% of all trips, followed by air transport and railway (15.0% and 12.8%, respectively) (see Figure 6). Other modes of transport were relatively insignificant, though it is important to note that this pattern can be very different at country level. Waterways were the main means of transport for 44.6% of trips made by residents of Malta and 15.7% of trips made by Greek residents, while residents of Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia and Romania took buses for more than 10% of their trips (see Table 4).

Motor vehicles were the preferred means of transport for domestic trips (75.7%), followed by rail (15.4%) and bus (4.0%). For foreign trips the preferred means of transport was airplane (47.6%), followed by motor vehicles (38.4%) and rail (5.9%).

six pie charts showing trips made by EU residents by main means of transport in 2023, there are three sets of two pie charts each. The first set shows all trips, the second set shows domestic trips and the third set shows foreign trips. In each set one pie chart shows air transport, waterway and land trips and one shows, motor vehicle, bus coach, railway and other land transport.
Figure 6: Trips made by EU residents by main means of transport, 2023
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_tttr)


A table showing the trips made by EU residents by main means of transport in 2023, in the EU and EU countries. The columns show the share by type of transport, air, waterway and land and the share by type of land transport, railway, bus coach, motor vehicle and other land transport
Table 4: Trips made by EU residents by main means of transport, 2023
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_tttr)

In 2023 tourism continued recovering from the Covid-19 crisis

The main trends in tourism by EU residents for the period 2007-2023 are shown in Figure 7. Overall, the 2008-09 global economic crisis did not strongly affect EU residents' tourism. Following slight drops each year between 2009 and 2015, in 2016 the number of trips and nights spent started recovering and regained the levels existing prior to the economic crisis. In 2019 compared with 2007, the number of trips and nights spent increased by 6.4% and 1.5% respectively. However, tourism has developed very differently depending on whether the trips were made for personal or professional purposes. The Covid-19 crisis strongly affected EU residents’ tourism in 2020, with drops of 37% in the number or trips and the number of nights and even higher drops for business trips, compared with the previous year. The slow recovery started in 2021, when the number of trips increased by 22.6% compared with 2020, while the number of nights increased by 19.6% during the same period. The recovery continued in 2022, when the number of trips increased by 23.3% compared with 2021 and the number of nights increased by 27.3% during the same period. In 2023, the upward trend continued, and the number of trips made by EU tourists increased by 6.2% compared with 2022 and it slightly surpassed the pre-pandemic level of 2019 by 0.5%. The number of nights also increased compared with 2021 by 4.5%, yet they are still slightly below pre-pandemic levels (-0.4%). The business trips and nights recorded even slower recovery compared with personal trips and nights.

Three line charts showing the Trends in number of trips, nights spent and average duration of trips made by EU residents from 2007 to 2023. The first chart shows all trips, it has three lines, total trips, total nights and average duration; the second chart shows personal trips, it has three lines, personal trips, personal nights and average duration; and the third chart shows business trips, it has three lines business trips, business nights and average duration.
Figure 7: Trends in number of trips, nights spent and average duration of trips made by EU residents, 2007-2023 (index 2007=100)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttq), (tour_dem_tttot), (tour_dem_tnq), (tour_dem_tntot)

Source data for tables and graphs

Data sources

Collection of annual data on trips of EU residents

The collection consists of harmonised data collected by the EU countries in the frame of the Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism.

The scope of observation for data on tourism trips are all tourism trips with at least 1 overnight stay, made by the resident population aged 15 years and over. It includes trips made for private or professional purpose, outside the usual environment.

Context

The EU is a major tourist destination, with 6 EU countries among the world's top 10 destinations for holidaymakers, according to [1] data. Tourism is an important activity in the EU which contributes to employment and economic growth, as well as to the development of rural, peripheral or less-developed areas. Tourism is estimated to account for 4.5% to the EU's gross value added. These characteristics drive the demand for reliable and harmonised statistics on this activity, as well as within the wider context of regional policy and sustainable development policy areas.


Notes

  1. ↑ UN Tourism

Explore further

Other articles


Database


Tourism trips (tour_dem_tt)
Tourism nights (tour_dem_tn)

Thematic section


Publications


Selected datasets


Trips by purpose (tin00188)
Trips by duration of the trip (tin00189)
Nights spent by purpose (tin00191)
Nights spent by duration of the trip (tin00192)

Methodology


External links


Legislation


  • With 2012 as reference year:
  • Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism and repealing Council Directive 95/57/EC. (Summary)
  • Regulation (EU) No 1051/2011 of 20 October 2011 implementing Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 concerning European statistics on tourism, as regards the structure of the quality reports and the transmission of the data.
  • Previous legal acts (concerning reference periods before 2012):
  • Directive 95/57/EC of 23 November 1995 on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism
  • Commission Decision 1999/35/CE of 9 December 1998 on the procedures for implementing Council Directive 95/57/EC on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism.
  • Commission Decision 2004/883/CE of 10 December 2004 adjusting the Annex to Council Directive 95/57/EC on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism as regards country lists.
  • Directive 2006/110/EC of 20 November 2006 adapting Directives 95/57/EC and 2001/109/EC in the field of statistics, by reason of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania
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