Skip to the content


Data extracted in March 2025.

Planned article update: 2 June 2025.

Highlights

EU tourism nights mark 2.2% yearly increase in 2024, reaching a record 3 billion nights spent.

International tourism was the motor for the growth in tourism in 2024.

Over half a billion tourism nights spent in the last quarter of 2024.

line chart showing the nights spent in EU tourist accommodation. The line chart shows the monthly percentage change from January 2020 to December 2023

This article focuses on the short-term evolutions in the nights spent in tourist accommodation in the European Union (EU). The data from the most recent reference period available are compared with those of the same period of the previous year. The current article discusses the data for Q4 2024, and includes results for the entire year of 2024.


Over half a billion tourism nights spent in the last quarter of 2024

In the last three months of 2024, over half a billion nights were spent in EU tourist accommodation: 227 million nights in October, 145 million nights in November and 150 million nights in December (see Table 1). This corresponds to 25.4 million more nights (+5.1%) than those spent in the last three months of 2023. All but one EU country (Ireland) reported a positive trend. The highest increases in the last quarter of 2024 were recorded in Malta and Latvia, with +16.5% and +12.5% respectively (see Figure 1). More than half of the 522 million nights spent in the EU in Q4 were observed in the top-3 countries Spain (96 million nights), Germany (95 million) and Italy (71 million), France followed closely with 64 million nights spent.

Table showing the nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the EU, individual EU Member States, EFTA countries and also candidate countries. The number of nights spent in 2024 are shown in separate columns for October, November, December, the fourth quarter and the year. Other columns show the percentage change.
Table 1: Nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments, October to December 2024 and year 2024
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nim)


Vertical bar chart showing the nights spent in tourist accommodation in the EU, individual EU Member States, EFTA countries and also candidate countries. Each country has one column, representing a comparison of the Q4 2024 with the fourth quarter of 2023 as a percentage change.
Figure 1: Nights spent in tourist accommodation, Q4 2024 compared with the same quarter in 2023 (% change)
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nim)

Nights spent at tourist accommodation reaching 3 billion in 2024

With the release of December 2024 data, estimates for the entire year of 2024 are now available. The year 2024 marked a record number of tourism nights spent in the EU, with 3.00 billion nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments across the EU (see Table 1). This marks an increase by 2.2% compared with the year 2023. In 23 out of 27 EU countries, the nights spent in 2024 exceeded the 2023 level, only in Sweden (-0.1%), Belgium (-0.2%), France (-0.6 %) and Luxembourg (-2.7 %) was a decrease observed. Malta recorded a double-digit growth rate (+14.4%) (see Figure 2), followed by strong growth rates in Latvia (+7.4%) and Poland (+5.2%). Compared with 2023, 65 million more nights were spent. The biggest contributors to this growth, in absolute terms, were Spain (+15 million nights, reaching 500 million nights spent in 2024), Italy (+11 million) and Germany (+10 million). The biggest loss, in absolute terms, was observed in France (-3 million nights, down from 454 million nights spent in 2023 to 451 million in 2024). The increase by 65 million nights in 2024, means that on an average night 179.000 more tourists stayed at EU accommodation compared to a year earlier. On an average night in 2024, 8.2 million beds in tourist accommodation establishments were occupied by tourists.

Vertical bar chart showing the nights spent in tourist accommodation in the EU, individual EU Member States, EFTA countries and also candidate countries. Each country has one column, representing a comparison of 2024 with 2023 as a percentage change.
Figure 2: Nights spent in tourist accommodation, 2024 compared with 2023 (% change)
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nim)


Looking at the monthly distribution of the nights spent (see Figure 3), the seasonal pattern in 2024 was similar to that of 2023, apart from the Easter effect in March and April (the Easter weekend fell largely in March in the year 2024, while in 2023 it fell entirely in April). The dominance of July and August was a little bit less pronounced (31.4% of all annual nights in 2024 compared with 31.7% in 2013). In July and August 2024, 942 million nights spent were spent in the EU, which corresponds to the number of nights spent in January, February, March, April, November and December (943 million nights).

Line chart showing the monthly nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the EU in million nights. Two lines compare the monthly millions of nights spent in the years 2023 and 2024.
Figure 3: Nights spent in tourist accommodation, EU, monthly distribution, 2023 and 2024 (million nights)
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nim)

The growth in the year 2024 was entirely driven by international tourism

The breakdown by origin of the guest (see Table 2) shows that in Q4 2024 compared with the Q4 2023, the overall increase by 25.4 million nights spent (+5.1%) was mainly created in the segment of international tourism (+7.2%). This segment accounted for almost two thirds of the overall increase (+16.3 million, compared with +9.0 million nights extra in the domestic segment). In absolute terms, the biggest increases in international nights spent in Q4 2024 were observed in Italy (+5.3 million) and Spain (+2.6 million). In relative terms, Latvia (+16.8%), Malta (+16.6%), Italy and Finland (both +15.6%) recorded the highest growth in nights spent by foreigners in the Q4 2024. Malta also showed the highest growth rate in the number of domestic nights spent (+15.2%), followed by Ireland (+12.8%) and Croatia (+11.7%), but in absolute terms the biggest increases were noted in Germany (+2.8 million domestic nights), Italy (+1.8 million domestic nights) and Poland (+1.6 million domestic nights).

Table showing the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments by the origin of the guest as domestic guests or international visitors in the Q4 2024. Other columns in the table show the percentage change in guests by origin comparing Q4 2024 with Q4 2024. The data is shown for the EU, individual EU Member States, EFTA countries and also candidate countries.
Table 2: Nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments, by origin of the guest, Q4 2024
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nim)


The important contribution of the international tourism flows to the overall growth observed in the Q4 2024, is even more pronounced when considering the results for the entire year (see Table 3 and Figure 4), with international tourism accounting for the net growth by 65.4 million nights, in spite of a decrease by -1.8 million domestic tourism nights (-0.1%). The biggest contributors to the increase with 67.2 million international nights (+4.9%) were Spain (+18.0 million international nights, +6.0%) and Italy (+15.9 million international nights, +6.8%), jointly accounting for more than half of the increase in nights spent by foreign guests in the EU. The biggest drops in domestic nights spent were observed in France (-5.0 million) and Italy (-4.7 million), while Germany saw an increase with nearly 5 million nights spent by domestic tourists.

Table showing the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments by the origin of the guest as domestic guests or international visitors in the year 2024. Other columns in the table show the percentage change in guests by origin comparing 2024 with 2023. The data is shown for the EU, individual EU Member States, EFTA countries and also candidate countries.
Table 3: Nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments, by origin of the guest, 2024
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nim)


Vertical bar chart showing the nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments by origin of guest in the EU, individual EU Member States, EFTA countries and also candidate countries. Each country has two columns, the first represents the number of domestic guests in the year 2024 compared with 2013 as a percentage change. The second column represents the number of international visitors in the year 2024 compared with 2023 as a percentage change.
Figure 4: Nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments, by origin of the guest, 2024 compared with 2013 (% change)
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_ninat) (tour_occ_nim)

Hotels accounted for nearly two thirds of nights spent in 2024

Traditionally, the camping segment is relatively unimportant in Q4 2024 (3.6% of all nights spent, with the majority recorded in October 2024). Hotels and similar accommodation accounted for 73.8% of the nights spent in the Q4 2024, the remaining 22.6% was taken by holiday and other-short stay accommodation. At annual level, the dominance of the hotels segment was a bit less pronounced, with a share of 63.1% in the total nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments in the EU (see Figure 5). Holiday and short-stay accommodation and campsites accounted for 23.8% and 13.1% of the market respectively.

Pie chart showing the nights spent by type of accommodation in the EU for 2024.
Figure 5: Nights spent in tourist accommodation, by type of accommodation, EU, 2024 (%)
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nim)


Data on tourism nights is included in the interactive European Statistical Monitor, which contains monthly and quarterly indicators from a number of statistical areas. The dashboard is updated every month with the latest available data for each indicator.

Source data for tables and graphs

Data sources

This article presents the short-term trends in nights spent in tourist accommodation in the EU, analysing monthly data provided by EU countries.

For a more comprehensive the year-to-year evolution of the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation and a detailed analysis of 2023 annual data, see Tourism statistics - annual results for the accommodation sector. Detailed 2024 annual data will be available in October 2025.

Eurostat also publishes separate series on platform tourism, re-using privately held data obtained directly from 4 major international platforms. For the most recent results, see the article Short-stay accommodation offered via online collaborative economy platforms - monthly data.

Context

The EU is a major tourist destination, with 6 EU countries among the world's top 10 destinations for holidaymakers, according to UN Tourism[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. ↑ [ https://www.e-unwto.org/toc/wtobarometereng/22/3]

Explore further

Other articles


Database


Thematic section


Publications


Selected datasets


Methodology


External links


Legislation


Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism and repealing Council Directive 95/57/EC.
Summaries of EU legislation: Tourism statistics
Retrieved from "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Tourism_statistics_-_nights_spent_at_tourist_accommodation_establishments&oldid=673196"