EU travel industry sees record growth in first six months of 2023

Tourist accommodations had the most nights in a decade in early 2023. International tourism rebounded and grew 22.5 per cent from 2022. Domestic tourism also increased by 5.8 per cent.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating effect on the EU tourism industry, but it has shown remarkable signs of recovery in the first six months of 2023. Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, reported that the number of nights spent in tourist accommodations reached a record high in the past ten years, indicating a significant improvement in the industry's performance across many countries.

The data from Eurostat showed that there were 1,193 million nights spent in tourist accommodations in the first half of this year, which was almost 11 million more than in the same period in 2019 (1182 million, +0.9 per cent). Moreover, there were 136 million more overnight stays than in the first half of 2022 (1057 million, +12.9 per cent). Compared to 2021 (406.8 million), this year saw an increase of 786 million overnight stays, and compared to 2020 (474.7 million), an increase of 718 million overnight stays was observed.

The first six months of 2023 showed a remarkable recovery in the tourism sector across the EU, with all months registering higher numbers of overnight stays than the same period in 2022. The most significant growth occurred in January (45 per cent) and February (27 per cent), reflecting the easing of travel restrictions and the increased vaccination rates.
A breakdown by country reveals that all EU member states, except for Hungary, which recorded a marginal decline of -0.3 per cent, experienced a positive trend in overnight stays compared to 2022. The highest growth rates were observed in Cyprus (39.3 per cent), Malta (30.5 per cent), and Slovakia (28.7 per cent). However, some countries still have not reached the levels of overnight stays that they had in the first half of 2019, before the pandemic hit. These include Latvia (-23.8 per cent), Slovakia (-16.0 per cent), Hungary (-12.2 per cent), and Lithuania (-11.7 per cent).

One of the main drivers of this year's recovery was the resurgence of international tourism, which increased by 22.5 per cent compared to 2022, while domestic tourism grew by 5.8 per cent.

Overall, foreign tourists accounted for 545 million nights or 46 per cent of the total overnight stays in the EU in the first half of 2023. The share of foreign tourists has fluctuated significantly due to the pandemic, dropping from 47 per cent in the first half of 2019 to 36 per cent in 2020 and 21 per cent in 2021, before bouncing back to 42 per cent in 2022.