Tourism in Europe in 2009

Stable number of trips, but nights spent down by 4.8% in hotels and similar accommodation

 

(Eurostat) The edition of „Data in Focus“ of Eurostat presents the 2007-2009 evolution of tourism in Europe, as well as some results for the first months of 2010. The publication focuses on the evolution of the number of nights spent in hotels and similar establishments, but also looks at the evolutions from another point of view, namely the holiday trips and expenditure made by EU residents.

 

Summary:

• Monthly number of nights spent in 2009 below the level of 2007 for all months.

• Except for the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, the number of nights spent in collective accommodation dropped in all Member States during 2009, on average by 3.7%. In nearly all Member States, the decrease was bigger than during the year 2008.

• The decrease of the number of nights spent in the EU during 2009 was smaller during the second semester (-2.0%) than during the first semester (-6.0%), this conclusion holds for 24 out of 27 Member States. In 2008, 24 Member States recorded a bigger decrease during the second semester than in the first semester.

• Only Sweden recorded a growth in resident and non-resident nights in 2009. In 9 other Member States, an increase in the resident nights spent in collective accommodation partly compensated for the drop in non-resident nights.

• In 8 of the 19 countries where data is available, growth was observed in January and February 2010, as compared to the same 2 months in 2009. On aggregate, these 19 countries showed an increase of 0.4% for the total nights spent in hotels and similar establishments (residents: +0.5%, non-residents: +0.4%).

• The participation in tourism – or share of the population that made holiday trips during the reference period – grew in 2008 and 2009 as compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In 2009, the number of people making outbound trips slightly decreased.

• On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the share of the population that made holiday trips with overnight stays – regardless of the length of stay – increased gradually between 2007 and 2009.

• When only looking at holidays of at least four overnight stays, a drop was observed in the last two quarters of 2009 as compared to the same quarters in the previous year.

• In 2009, residents of the EU made slightly more trips than in 2008 (+0.3%), thanks to a positive growth in the second semester (+1.0%) which compensated the negative evolution in the first semester (-0.5%).

• While the number of trips increased, the number of nights spent decreased (-4.1%). This was especially the case for the nights spent on long holiday trips (-5.3%), regardless of the destination.

• The expenditure of EU residents on tourism trips remained unchanged in 2009 as compared to 2008. A growth was recorded for total expenditure on domestic trips (3.3%) and short trips (4.8%), while tourist expenditure decreased on outbound trips (-1.6%) and long holiday trips (-1.2%).

• EU residents spent on average 1.4% less per holiday trip in 2009 compared to the previous year. Especially in the second half of the year, average expenditure per trip dropped significantly (-3.8%). Average tourist expenditure per night increased by 0.6%.