The results of tourism industry in summer season 2010 in Europe were slightly better than in 2009. The Baltic States were the ones who recorded the highest growth in the period.
According to a Eurostat report from April 11, European tourism industry was doing better during the 2010 summer season (June till September) than during the same period in 2009. The report shows that tourists spent over 730 million nights in hotels and similar establishments in the EU, which is a 3% increase in the year to year comparison. In other words, guests spent 21 million more nights in the mentioned establishments than in 2009. Baltic States with a 15 to 18% increase recorded the fastest growing hotel occupancy rate. Rumania on the other hand suffered a 12% decrease. In the UK, the numbers dropped by 5.5% and in Greece by 1.6%.
Tourists spent some 70% of overnight stays in the following countries: Italy (18.3%), Spain (18.1%), Germany (12.9%), France (11.4%) and the UK (9.6%). As Foodservice.cz points out, the percentage is different for non-residents or foreign tourists. Foreigners preferred Spain, Italy and Greece (in total more than 50% of overnight stays).
The number of foreign tourists increased in all the EU countries with the exception of the UK. Foreigners paid for 96.4% of overnight stays on Malta and 89.7% on Cyprus. In Rumania, it was only 15.4% of overnight stays. The percentage of foreigners paying for hotels in Germany was also quite low (over 20%). The neighboring Czech Republic recorded a different rate, with almost 75% of overnight stays paid by foreign visitors. From non-EU members, the highest number of foreigners paying for hotels (92%) was recorded in Croatia.
The number of overnight stays in selected EU countries (June – September 2010):
Country Number (mil.) Year-to-year difference (%) Percentage of foreign tourists
Italy 133,9 0,2 41,6
Spain 131,8 7,4 59,9
Germany 94,4 6,7 21,6
France 83,4 3,1 37,4
the UK 70,1 -5,5 36,9
Greece 44,0 -1,6 79,6
Austria 31,6 2,7 70,3
Portugal 18,2 4,5 62,9
Switzerland 15,1 2,7 58,2
Croatia 14,1 5,5 92,1
Poland 11,2 11,3 32,1
the Czech Republic 10,9 4,4 62,3
Hungary 7,1 3,3 51,9
Slovakia 2,7 7,6 47,3
The numbers are rounded-off.
Source: Eurostat
Hotel occupancy rates also improved during the period. They were the highest in August.
Hotel occupancy rates (June – September) (%):
Country 2009 2010
Croatia 74,5 77,5
Malta 68,4 77,2
Cyprus 73,0 73,4
Greece 66,4 67,5
Spain 59,7 59,1
France 55,1 57,0
Italy 52,0 53,1
Germany 42,8 45
the Czech Republic 38,5 41,5
Poland 38,4 38,5
Bulgaria 34,6 37,2
Slovakia 29,9 31,3
The countries are listed downwards.
Source: Eurostat