According to Eurostat, 2017 ended with positive numbers for European tourism. In fact, the number of nights spent in tourist facilities around the Old Continent reached 3.2 billion, which is 5.1% more than in 2016.
An analysis of the distribution for each country shows that the main players of the market are Spain (471.4 million nights spent in accommodation facilities), France (431.3 million nights), Italy (424.7 million nights) and Germany (399.9 million nights).
Spain is specific because 65% of their tourists come from abroad. In contrast, French and German figures are completely the opposite. 31% foreigners arrived in France in 2017, while 21% foreign visitors arrived in Germany.
In Italy, meanwhile, there is a substantial balance - 50% of the visitors are international, the rest is domestic. However, there is a slight advantage for domestic tourists (213.5 million nights spent in hotels) on foreigners (211.3 million nights).
The rest of Europe also shows interesting distribution of the origin of visitors. For example, Croatia (93% foreigners), Greece (80%) and Austria (71%) rely heavily on international holidaymakers. On the other hand, countries like Poland (20%), Sweden (25%) and the Netherlands (39%) were destinations betting on domestic tourism.
Comparing the data with 2016, the overall growth of 5.1% in the number of nights spent in accommodation facilities is reflected in almost all European countries, albeit in different numbers.
Latvia tops the list with a 12% increase, followed by Liechtenstein (11.7%), Slovenia (11.3%), Serbia (11%), and Croatia with a 10.6% increase.
Of the four countries that recorded the highest number of nights spent in tourist facilities, only France (6.6%) and Italy (5.4%) reached a figure higher than the total European value 5.1%. Spain and Germany reported slightly lower rise, with 3.6% and 2.7%, respectively.