In March, more tourists stayed in accommodation establishments than a year ago

News
Posted on 11 May 2016, 11:00
According to Statistics Estonia, in March 2016, 212,400 domestic and foreign tourists stayed in accommodation establishments, which was 13% more than in March 2015. The number of both domestic and foreign tourists increased.

120, 900 foreign tourists stayed in accommodation establishments, which was 14% more than in March 2015. In March, 86,400 tourists or 71% of the foreign tourists arrived from neighbouring countries Finland, Russia and Latvia. Compared to March of the previous year, the number of tourists arriving from Latvia, Finland and Russia increased 48%, 19% and 4%, respectively. There was also an increase in the number of tourists arriving from several European and Asian countries. 75% of the foreign tourists preferred to stay in the accommodation establishments of Tallinn. 8% of the foreign tourists stayed in the accommodation establishments of Pärnu city and 4% in Tartu city. In addition, 4% of the foreign tourists stayed in the accommodation establishments of Ida-Viru county.

91,500 domestic tourists stayed in accommodation establishments, which was 11% more than in March 2015. The number of nights spent by domestic tourists also increased by 11%, meaning that the duration of stay of domestic tourists remained at the last year’s level.  57% of the domestic tourists were on a holiday trip and 25% were on a business trip. 29% of the domestic tourists stayed in the accommodation establishments of Harju county, 19% in Pärnu county, 12% in Ida-Viru county and 9% in Tartu county. Compared to March 2015, there was an increase in the number of domestic tourists staying in accommodation establishments in Harju, Pärnu and Ida-Viru counties. In Tartu county, the number of accommodated domestic tourists decreased 2%, while there was a 14% increase in the number of foreign tourists there.

In March, 895 accommodation establishments offered services for tourists. 18,000 rooms and 40,000 beds were available for tourists. 39% of the rooms and 31% of the beds were occupied. The average cost of a guest night was 33 euros or as much as in March a year earlier. The average cost of a guest night was 36 euros in Harju county, 31 euros in Tartu county and 27 euros in Pärnu county.

Accommodation by region, March 2016
Accommodation Total Northern Estonia North-Eastern Estonia Central Estonia Western Estonia Southern Estonia
Accommodation establishments 895 186 58 102 247 302
Rooms 17 970 7 890 1 194 1 298 3 872 3 716
Beds 40 262 16 824 2 567 3 130 8 735 9 006
Room occupancy rate, % 39 49 41 23 36 25
Bed occupancy rate, % 31 41 36 17 30 19
Tourists accommodated 212 442 120 039 15 601 9 113 38 795 28 894
Nights spent 392 503 215 449 28 267 16 319 80 809 51 659
residents of Estonia 153 941 42 526 18 535 12 836 44 657 35 387
foreign visitors 238 562 172 923 9 732 3 483 36 152 16 272
Average cost of a guest night, euros 33 36 29 31 27 28

The statistics are based on the questionnaire “Accommodation”, the deadline of which was 10 April 2016. Statistics Estonia published the monthly summary in 22 working days.