European Tourism Reached Decade High in First Half of 2023
Key Points
- Europe reached a decade high in tourist stays in the first half of 2023, with 1.19 billion night stays.
- International tourism significantly boosted Europe's numbers, with a 22.5% increase in night stays from the previous year.
- Despite overall growth, about half of EU countries have not fully recovered to 2019 tourism levels.
Summary
In the first half of 2023, Europe saw a record number of tourist stays, reaching a decade high with 1.19 billion night stays. This growth was largely driven by a 22.5% increase in international tourist night stays compared to the previous year. While most EU countries experienced growth, some, like Hungary, saw declines, and many have not yet fully returned to pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
In the first half of 2023, Europe experienced its highest number of tourist stays in the past decade, according to Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency. Europe recorded 1.19 billion night stays between January and June 2023, up by 0.9% and 12.9% from the same period in 2019 and 2022, respectively.
International tourism gave Europe a strong boost in the first half of 2023, according to Eurostat. International tourist night stays rose 22.5% from last year to 545 million. Domestic tourist night stays rose 5.8%.
All EU states experienced overnight stay increases compared to 2022, with the exception of Hungary, which experienced a slight decrease of 0.3% The countries that saw the biggest growth were Cyprus at 39.3%, Malta at 30.5% and Slovakia at 28.7%.
Compared to their 2019 levels, about half of EU member states have not fully recovered, according to Eurostat. Latvia was down the most at 23.8%, Slovakia at 16%, Hungry at 12.2% and Lithuania at 11.7%.
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