In May, the number of tourists accommodated increased year on year
According to Statistics Estonia, accommodation establishments served over 293,000 tourists in May 2024, which is 11% more than in May last year. There were more domestic as well as foreign tourists accommodated.
163,000 foreign and 130,000 domestic tourists were accommodated in Estonia in May. Compared with May 2023, there were 16% more foreign and 5% more domestic tourists.
Helga Laurmaa, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, noted that, in May, the number of foreign tourists increased year on year but was still 23% smaller than in May 2019 before the pandemic. “On a positive note, the number of domestic tourists in May was 18% bigger than in May 2019,” said Laurmaa.
The largest numbers of tourists arrived from neighbouring countries – nearly 62,000 from Finland and 19,000 from Latvia. 11,000 people travelled to Estonia from Germany, 7,000 from Lithuania, and 4,500 from both Sweden and Poland. Compared with May 2023, there were 50% more tourists from Germany, 20% more tourists from the United Kingdom, 6% more tourists from Poland and from Lithuania, and 5% more tourists from Latvia. The number of tourists from Sweden was 2% smaller than in May last year.
Three fourths of the foreign tourists were on holiday and 19% were on business trips. The majority of foreign tourists (72%) preferred to stay overnight in Harju county, followed by Pärnu (11%), Tartu (7%), Saare (3%) and Ida-Viru (2%) counties.
69% of the domestic tourists were on holiday and 23% were travelling on business. The biggest share of domestic tourists were accommodated in Harju county (32%), followed by Pärnu (14%), Tartu (11%), Ida-Viru (9%) and Saare (7%) counties.
Tourists spent a total of 542,900 nights in accommodation establishments: domestic tourists stayed for 222,400 nights and foreign tourists for 320,500 nights in total.
In May, 1,038 accommodation establishments served visitors in Estonia. There were 22,000 rooms and 52,000 bed places available for guests. The room occupancy rate was 47%. The average cost of a guest night was 49 euros per person, which is the same as in May 2023 but 14% more than in May 2019 before the crisis. The average cost of an overnight stay per person was 55 euros in Harju county, 52 euros in Tartu county, 44 euros in Ida-Viru county, 42 euros in Pärnu county, and 37 euros in Saare county.
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)