More and more tourists staying in accommodation establishments (figure corrected in 08.07.2022)

The figure "Tourists accommodated in Estonia, 2019–2022" has been corrected in the news release.

Helga Laurmaa, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that nearly 117,000 foreign and 132,000 domestic tourists were accommodated in Estonia. “The number of foreign tourists grew strongly but it was still almost a half below the pre-crisis level of 2019. The number of domestic tourists in accommodation establishments was 19% higher than in May 2019, setting yet another record. In no previous year have so many domestic tourists stayed in accommodation establishments in May,” added Laurmaa.

For 66% of domestic tourists, the purpose of their trip was holiday, and 26% were on business trips. The largest share of domestic tourists (31%) were accommodated in Harju county. 14% of domestic tourists stayed overnight in Pärnu county and 11% in Tartu county. Ida-Viru county accommodated 10%, and Lääne-Viru and Saare counties each housed 6% of domestic tourists. Domestic tourists spent a total of 216,000 nights in accommodation establishments.

Compared to May 2021, there was an increase in the number of tourists from European countries as well as from other countries outside of Europe. The very low reference base was still one of the reasons for the significant change. The biggest number of tourists came from Finland (nearly 43,000) and Latvia (nearly 15,000). 7,000 tourists arrived from Germany and 5,000 from Lithuania. 72% of the foreign tourists were accommodated in Harju county, followed by Pärnu (10%) and Tartu (7%) counties. Foreign tourists spent a total of 230,000 nights in Estonia.

In May, there were 1,043 accommodation establishments open for tourists in Estonia, which is 121 establishments more than last month. There were 21,000 rooms and 50,000 bed places available for guests. The room occupancy rate was 41%. The average cost of a guest night was 43 euros per person, which is 3 euros more than in April. The average cost of an overnight stay per person was 47 euros in Harju and Tartu counties, 40 euros in Ida-Viru county, and 36 euros in Pärnu county.

* The number of foreign tourists does not include refugees from Ukraine.

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.

For further information:

Helen Maria Raadik
Media Relations Manager
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 625 9191