In 2017, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the European Union (EU) is expected to have reached more than 3.2 billion, up by 5.1% compared with 2016.
In 2017, Spain (471 million nights, +3.6% compared with 2016) retained its lead, ahead of France (431 mn, +6.6%), Italy (425 mn, +5.4%) and Germany (400 mn, +2.7%). These early estimates, which include nights spent whether for business or leisure, come from an article issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
In 2017, Croatia recorded 86.1 million overnight stays of which 80.2 million was generated by foreign tourists and 5.9 million by tourists from Croatia, up 10.6% on the year.
Highest growth in total tourism nights in Latvia, Slovenia and Croatia The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation in 2017 grew in nearly all Member States for which data are available, with the largest increases being observed in Latvia (+12.0%), Slovenia (+11.3%) and Croatia (+10.6), followed by Portugal (+8.0%), the Czech Republic (+7.7%) and Cyprus (+7.3%).
In contrast, the only slight fall was registered in Luxembourg (-1.0%, equivalent to 28 thousand nights). Spain, top destination abroad In the EU, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation by non-residents grew faster (+6.9%) between 2016 and 2017 than those spent by residents (+3.5%).
Almost every EU Member State recorded an increase in the number of tourism nights spent by non-residents, with the exception being Luxembourg (-0.6%, equivalent to 15 thousand nights). In absolute figures, Spain (307 mn nights, or 19% of the total of nights spent by non-residents in the EU) recorded the highest number of nights spent by non-residents in tourist accommodation establishments.