Accommodation

The purpose of these statistics is to provide information on the capacity of accommodation establishments, the number of guests and number of overnight stays, as well as changes in the supply side of tourism. Accommodation statistics serve as input for measuring the objectives set out in the national Tourism Strategy. The data also serve as input for planning tourism-related developments and for measuring the achievement of the targets defined. Accommodation statistics help to assess the effectiveness of tourism promotion efforts and to plan the use of structural funds in the next period for measures in Estonia and for promoting Estonia abroad.

Census survey

Capacity of accommodation establishments (number of establishments, number of bedrooms and bed places, average number of bed places in room) by region, county type of settlement, and economic activity;

number of accommodated tourists and nights spent by county, country of residence, purpose of trip, and economic activity

Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK);

Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK) based on NACE Rev. 2;

Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS)

Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK) based on NACE Rev. 2:

5510 Hotels and similar accommodation;

5520 Holiday and other short-stay accommodation;

5530 Camping grounds and recreational vehicle parks

Accommodation enterprise – an establishment that provides short-term accommodation services for a fee (although the price of the service may be partially or fully subsidised), as described in NACE Rev. 2 groups 55.1 (hotels and similar accommodation), 55.2 (holiday and other short-stay accommodation) and 55.3 (camping grounds and recreational vehicle parks).

Accommodation establishment – an establishment or facility providing overnight accommodation. A business entity through which an enterprise provides accommodation services as part of its economic or professional activity. Accommodation establishments can be classified as follows: hotels, motels, guesthouses, hostels, holiday camps, cottages, apartments, bed-and-breakfasts. Overnight stays provided at campsites or caravan sites are also categorised as accommodation service. Tourism accommodation has been divided into two main groups: collective accommodation establishments (serve tourists as business entities) and private tourist accommodation. The accommodation statistics take into account only the data of collective accommodation.

Accommodation service – the offer or sale of regular or occasional sleeping accommodation and supplementary goods or services.

Accommodated tourist – a tourist or an overnight visitor who stays at least one night in a hotel, motel or any other kind of collective accommodation establishment.

Average cost of a guest night – the average cost of one guest night in an accommodation establishment, which includes value-added tax and the cost of breakfast if it is sold with the accommodation service.

Bed occupancy rate – the ratio of the number of total overnight stays and the total number of bed places on offer in percentages. The bed places of rooms under repair and of rooms temporarily closed for other reasons are not taken into account.

Bed place – a single bed; a double bed is counted as two bed places. This unit is used for measuring the capacity of all types of accommodation establishments. Any extra beds are ignored.

Bedroom – the unit formed by one room or groups of rooms constituting an indivisible rental in an accommodation establishment or dwelling. Rooms may be single, double or multiple, depending on whether they are equipped permanently to accommodate one, two or several people. The number of existing rooms is the number of rooms that the establishment habitually has available to accommodate tourists, excluding rooms used by the employees working for the establishment. If a room is used as a permanent residence (for more than a year) it should not be included. Bathrooms and toilets do not count as a room. An apartment is a special type of room. It consists of one or more rooms and has a kitchen unit and its own bathroom and toilet.

Business trip – a trip organised or paid for by the employer that is related to the performance of work duties, including participation in congresses, conferences, meetings, seminars, training courses, etc. organised by the private or public sector or a professional association. A business trip is also a training and study trip; visiting an exhibition or fair; performing at a concert. Generally, a business trip is paid for by the employer or organisation.

Foreign or international visitor – a permanent resident of a foreign country who travels within Estonia.

Holiday trip – a trip for leisure or recreation purposes: spending annual holidays or weekends, visiting relatives, acquaintances, etc. and other leisure travelling. An incentive trip or a holiday trip paid for by the employer is also a holiday trip.

Number of accommodated tourists – the number of tourists or overnight visitors who spend at least one night in an accommodation establishment. Only visitors who have arrived with the purpose of overnight stay are considered as accommodated tourists. Visitors who stay in the accommodation establishment for a couple of hours during daytime or visitors mediated to other accommodation establishments are not considered as accommodated tourists.

Number of nights spent – the number of overnight stays that a guest actually spends (sleeps or stays) in the accommodation establishment or the period during which he/she is registered there (physical presence is not essential). The number of overnight stays is usually larger than the number of accommodated tourists as a tourist may stay longer than one night.

Other business trips – a trip organised or paid for by the employer which is related to the performance of work tasks, excluding participation in conferences, seminars or meetings organised by the private or public sector or professional associations.

Other trip – a trip for a purpose other than leisure or work (e.g. overnight stays during transit, medical treatment, study trips, etc.).

Participation in conference – tourists who participated in a conference, training seminar or meeting organised by the private or public sector or a professional association.

Room occupancy rate – the ratio of the number of rooms on offer and actually occupied rooms in percentages. The rooms under repair and temporarily closed for other reasons are not taken into account.

Usual environment – the geographical area (though not necessarily a contiguous one) within which an individual conducts his/her regular life routines. The usual environment is determined using the following criteria: crossing of administrative boundaries, distance from place of residence, the duration, frequency and purpose of visiting.

Tourist – a visitor travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not less than 24 hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes, other than to be employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited.

Accommodation establishment (local kind-of-activity unit)

Enterprises that provide accommodation services as their main or secondary economic activity (accommodation establishments with 5 or more bed places) and enterprises that provide overnight stays on camping grounds or in trailer parks.

Estonia as a whole

Annual data 1992–…

Monthly data 1993– ...

Annual data refer to the previous year; that is, the data published in 2026 refer to the year 2025.
Monthly data refer to the month before last; that is, the data published in January 2026 refer to November 2025.

Not applicable

Accommodation establishments, rooms, bed places, bed places per room (average), accommodated tourists, nights spent – number;

room occupancy rate, bed occupancy rate – percentage (%);

average cost of a guest night – euro

Year;

month

Official Statistics Act;

Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism and repealing Council Directive 95/57/EC (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 253/2013 of 15 January 2013 amending Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards adaptations following the revision of the International Standard Classification of Education ISCED in relation to the variables and breakdowns to be submitted (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1681 of 1 August 2019 amending Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism, as regards the transmission deadlines and adaptation of Annexes I and II (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1051/2011 of 20 October 2011 implementing Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism, as regards the structure of the quality reports and the transmission of the data (Text with EEA relevance);

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1569 of 23 July 2020 amending Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on the classification of countries of residence of guests staying at tourist accommodation establishments in the context of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union (Text with EEA relevance)

The accommodation statistics published in the statistical database are used by Eesti Pank (Bank of Estonia) to compile statistics on international travel, as one of the central bank’s responsibilities is to compile Estonia’s balance of payments which also cover the export and import of travel services.

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35 and § 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

On European level, Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

The dissemination of data collected for the production of official statistics is based on the requirements laid down in §§ 34 and 35 of the Official Statistics Act.
The principles for treatment of confidential data can be found here: Data protection (Privacy policy).

The data are published or transmitted without characteristics enabling identification of the data subject, as aggregate data of at least three data subjects, where the share of any data subject in the aggregate data is no more than 90%. Secondary confidentiality is also applied to ensure confidentiality.

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on Statistics Estonia's website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month).

The release calendar is available to consumers on the website Calendar.

All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

Year;

month

The news can be viewed on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section News.

Until February 2026, a monthly news release based on data from this statistical process was published. Currently, there are no regular news releases; the publication of blog posts, news items or social media posts is decided on an ad-hoc basis.

Not published

Data are published in the statistical database under the subject area Economy / Tourism, accommodation and catering / Accommodation in the following tables:

TU11: Capacity of accommodation establishments by region;

TU110: Capacity of accommodation establishments, accommodated tourists and nights spent by county;

TU111: Accommodation by type of settlement;

TU112: Accommodated tourists and nights spent by county and country of residence;

TU113: Accommodated tourists and nights spent by county and purpose of trip;

TU114: Accommodated tourists and nights spent by purpose of trip;

TU115: Accommodated tourists and nights spent by country of residence and accommodation provider's economic activity (EMTAK 2025);

TU116: Capacity of accommodation establishments, accommodated tourists and nights spent by county and economic activity (EMTAK 2025);

TU121: Accommodated tourists (monthly);

TU122: Accommodation by county (monthly);

TU131: Accommodated tourists and nights spent by county and country of residence (monthly);

TU132: Accommodated tourists and nights spent by county and purpose of trip (monthly);

TU133: Accommodated tourists and nights spent by purpose of trip (monthly);

TU17: Population and respondents of the survey of accommodation establishments (monthly).


Discontinued datasets that were based on this statistical process:

TU12: Accommodation by region (1992–2005);

TU13: Accommodated tourists by country of residence (1995–2005);

TU14: Nights spent by country of residence of accommodated tourists (1995–2005);

TU16: Population and respondents of the survey of accommodation establishments (2009–2024).

The database tables related to the survey were viewed 9,468 times in 2025.

This figure does not include views of discontinued data tables or views of the tables TU114, TU115 and TU116. Each table view is counted as a separate viewing. This is based on the database URLs which show that the data have been selected and the table formed.

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes.

Accommodation statistics are also available in the tourism, accommodation and food service section on Statistics Estonia's website and on the dashboard of tourism.

The data serve as input for the statistical processes “Tourism satellite accounts” and “Consumer price index”.

Internationally, the data are used by the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
Data are submitted to Eurostat on a monthly and annual basis; the other organisations use Eurostat data or receive data upon request.

The metadata related to the the statistics were viewed 240 times (1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025). This figure does not represent the number of viewers, as the metadata may have been viewed multiple times by a single user.

Eurostat’s methodological manual: Methodological manual for tourism statistics (version 3.1, 2014 edition)

This statistical activity is guided by the European Statistics Code of Practice.

A quality report has been submitted to Eurostat.

To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the EFQM Excellence Model and the requirements in section 7 “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act.

Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions.

Quality is managed by the quality manager.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency (EIS, formerly Enterprise Estonia) need information on accommodation establishments and tourists in order to assess the effectiveness of tourism promotion efforts and to plan the use of structural funds in the next period for measures in Estonia and for promoting Estonia abroad.

The questions concerning the purpose of the trip of accommodated tourists have been commissioned by EIS.

In Estonia, the data are also used by Eesti Pank (Bank of Estonia), the Ministry of Finance and local governments.

Internationally, the data are used by the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. Surveys conducted at least once a year target both the existing and potential consumers of statistics. All results are available on Statistics Estonia's website in the section User surveys. The survey referred to does not concern a specific statistical activity but is a general satisfaction survey.

Information on user satisfaction can also be obtained through user feedback, which has been mostly positive.

The data are in compliance with the legislation specified in the attribute “Legal acts and other agreements”.

For hotels and similar accommodation and for holiday and other short-stay accommodation, the scope of observation shall at least include all tourist accommodation establishments having 10 or more bed places.
For camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks, the scope of observation shall at least include all tourist accommodation establishments having 10 or more pitches.

Member States accounting for less than 1% of the total annual number of nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments in the European Union may further reduce the scope of observation, to include at least all tourist accommodation establishments having 20 or more bed places (20 or more pitches).

In Estonia, accommodation establishments with 5 or more bed places are considered according to the needs of domestic users.

An estimate of the total number of nights spent during the reference year by residents and non-residents in the tourist accommodation establishments excluded from the scope of observation is transmitted annually. Data on accommodation establishments with fewer than 5 bed places are estimated and are transmitted to Eurostat once a year.

All required indicators have been collected and calculated (completeness 100%).

The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient accuracy.

The accuracy of source data is monitored by assessing the methodological soundness of data sources and the adherence to the methodological recommendations.

Not applicable as this is not a sample survey.

Not applicable as this is not a sample survey.

An effort is made to reduce non-sampling errors through methodological improvements and survey process improvements (incl. checks during data collection and processing).

The response rates are published in the statistical database in the following data tables: TU16: Population and respondents of the survey of accommodation establishments and

TU17: Population and respondents of the survey of accommodation establishments (monthly).

The required response rate for the monthly survey is 95%. The actual response rate varies from year to year; in the period 2019–2025, it ranged from 93% to 96%.

The frame is a list of active enterprises (based on the business register for statistical purposes) whose main or secondary activity is accommodation.

Since the frame is based on register data, there is minimum under- or over-coverage. Under-coverage is more likely, as it is not obligatory in Estonia to register an accommodation establishment. The business register for statistical purposes is updated with information about new accommodation establishments identified in the course of data collection or based on other sources. Every two months, the data are updated based on the list of accommodation establishments managed by the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency which is also published on the website puhkaeestis.ee. Data on new enterprises with the main activity code 551, 552 or 553 according to EMTAK are received from the Business Register. Information in annual reports is used to check when the engagement in accommodation activities began or ended.

An effort is made to prevent measurement errors through multi-stage checking procedures. There is no information about major measurement errors. The questionnaires are carefully designed, are in electronic format, and include a number of arithmetic and logical checks. Where possible, the questionnaires are prefilled with administrative data.

Non-response is rare. To prevent non-response errors, notification letters and reminders are sent and checks are used in the data collection process.

Not applied

Not applicable

Monthly data are published 40 days after the end of the reference month (T+ 40 days).

Yearly data are published 140 days after the end of the reference year (T+ 140 days).

The data are published once, see “Timeliness”.

The data are published once, see “Timeliness”.

The data have been published at the time announced in the release calendar.

100% of the data has been published on time (as announced in the release calendar).

At the level of Estonia, the data are comparable for counties and regions.

The data is comparable to the data of other European Union countries, because a common methodology is used for accommodation statistics.

The data are mostly comparable over time. Changes were made in 2002 and 2006, but these did not warrant a break in the time series.

Since 2002, accommodation statistics also cover rehabilitation centres providing accommodation services.

Since 2006, the data of accommodation establishments with 1–4 bed places are excluded.

There have been no breaks in the time series of any of the tables, which means that the number of observation periods in the last unbroken time series equals the number of all observation periods.

Coherence between accommodation statistics and the Tourism Survey is ensured by the use of the same definition of an accommodation establishment.

There is coherence between monthly and annual accommodation data. Internal consistency is ensured by the use of a common methodology for data collection and data aggregation.

Not applicable as not directly usable in national accounts.

There is coherence between monthly and annual accommodation data. Internal consistency is ensured by the use of a common methodology for data collection and data aggregation.

Total time of filling in reports of the statistical activity: 7,023 hours (data for 2025).

Costs are not calculated separately for different statistical activities.

The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described on Statistics Estonia's website in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics.

The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, new or better data become available within two years from the end of the reference period.

Not applied

This is a census survey. The number of objects in the population is approximately 1,400–1,500. All accommodation establishments who have at least 5 bed places and whose main or secondary activity is accommodation are surveyed, and overnight stays provided at campsites or caravan sites are included.

Month

Data are collected and the submission of questionnaires is monitored via the self-service environment. The questionnaires have been designed for independent completion in the self-service environment and include instructions and checks. The questionnaires and information about data submission are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Questionnaires.

Until 2025, data were collected with two questionnaires: the monthly questionnaire 1157 “Accommodation activity” and the annual questionnaire 1156 “Accommodation activity”. Since 2026, data are collected only with the monthly questionnaire 1157.

If the data provider has any questions about the completion of the questionnaire, they can contact customer support. Therefore, training is provided to customer support and the data collection team before the start of the survey, where the content of the survey is discussed and the questionnaire is reviewed together.

Arithmetic and qualitative checks are used in the validation process, including comparison with data from previous periods and other surveys.

In the case of missing or unreliable data, imputation based on established regulations is used.

The data for accommodation enterprises that did not respond are replaced with the data of a previous period (the previous month or the same calendar month in the previous year).

Variables and statistical units which were not collected but which are necessary for producing the output are calculated. New variables are calculated by applying arithmetic conversion to already existing variables. This may be done repeatedly; the derived variable may, in turn, be based on previously derived new variables.

Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis. This includes aggregating the data according to the classification and calculating various statistical indicators.

Calculated variables:
- average cost of a guest night;
- estimated number of room nights sold;
- average number of nights spent per guest;
- size class of settlement by number of inhabitants;
- type of region of settlement;
- population density of settlement;
- territorial unit;
- urban population by settlement unit;
- urban population by administrative unit.

Not applied

Not applied

Not applied

Since 2026, the previous statistical activities "Accommodation" and "Accommodation establishments" have been treated as one statistical process.