Eurostat: the number of guest nights spent in EU tourist accommodation establishments decreased slightly in early 2025

The decline is mainly due to the fact that public holidays, including Carnival and Easter, and the corresponding school holidays, were linked to weekends differently this year than in the previous calendar year.

The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the EU in the first quarter of 2025 was 452.4 million. In January, 139 million nights were recorded in the EU, which is 3.5% more than in January 2024. In February, 147.7 million (-0.8%) were recorded and in March 167.7 million (-2.7%).

In the first three months of the year, around 45.6% of guest nights were spent by foreign visitors in an EU country. The share of guest nights spent by foreigners during this period was highest in Malta (91.2%), Cyprus (85.7%) and Luxembourg (80.4%). In contrast, in Poland (18.6%), Romania (20.1%) and Germany (20.2%), foreign guests accounted for only a fifth of guest nights.

However, in the first quarter, the number of nights spent by foreign guests increased only slightly (+1.1% compared to the first quarter of 2024), while the number of nights spent by domestic travellers decreased slightly (-1.3%).

The number of foreign visitors increased the most in Latvia (+18.5 percent), Malta (+17.2 percent) and Finland (+10.6 percent), while their number decreased the most in Ireland (-23.1 percent), Croatia (-16.7 percent) and Sweden (-11.5 percent).

According to the EU statistical office, the number of guest nights spent in tourist accommodation in Hungary in the first quarter of 2025 was 5,378,853, exceeding the 5,287,286 nights measured in the same period last year. In January this year, the number of guest nights was 1,667,596 (of which 870,454 were foreign), in February 1,725,627 (903,358 foreign) and in March 1,985,6308 (1,052,606 foreign).