In March, 14% more foreign tourists stayed in accommodation establishments than a year earlier

Helga Laurmaa, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that 115,700 foreign and 121,700 domestic tourists were accommodated in Estonia in March.“Compared with March 2023, there were 14% more foreign tourists, but their number was still 7% smaller than in March 2019 before the pandemic. The number of domestic tourists was 2% below last March's record,” noted Laurmaa.

As usual, the largest numbers of tourists arrived from neighbouring countries – 44,000 from Finland and 25,100 from Latvia. Over 4,800 people travelled to Estonia from Lithuania, 4,600 from Germany and nearly 4,500 from the United Kingdom. In comparison with March 2023, there were more accommodated tourists from many European countries as well as from countries further away. The number of Finnish tourists increased by 11%, Latvian tourists by 33%, Lithuanian tourists by 21% and German tourists by 9%. Compared with March of the previous year, the number of tourists arriving from Asian countries increased by 19%. The majority of tourists preferred to stay overnight in Harju county, followed by Pärnu and Tartu counties.

70% of the domestic tourists were on holiday and 21% were travelling on business. The biggest share of domestic tourists were accommodated in Harju county (33%), followed by Pärnu (14%), Tartu (12%) and Ida-Viru (11%) counties.

Tourists spent a total of 435,900 nights in accommodation establishments, of which domestic tourists accounted for 202,700 nights and foreign tourists for 233,200 nights.

The analyst stated that 906 accommodation establishments served visitors in March. “There were almost 21,000 rooms and 47,400 bed places available for guests. The room occupancy rate was 41%. The average cost of a guest night was 42 euros per person, which is one euro cheaper than in March 2023 but 6 euros more than in March 2019 before the crisis,” she said, adding that the average cost of an overnight stay per person was 43 euros in Harju, Ida-Viru and Tartu counties and 39 euros in Pärnu and Saare counties.

Statistics Estonia collects and analyses accommodation data for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications with the aim to determine the economic situation in Estonia.

See also the dedicated section on tourism, accommodation and food service and the tourism industry dashboard.

More detailed data have been published in the statistical database.

When using Statistics Estonia’s data and graphs, please indicate the source.

For further information:

Heidi Kukk
Media Relations Manager
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 625 9181
press [at] stat.ee (press[at]stat[dot]ee)