Statistics: In August, domestic tourists outnumbered foreign tourists again
In August, 331,000 tourists stayed in Estonian accommodation establishments, data released by Statistics Estonia shows. Their total number of nights was 591,000 but compared to August 2019, the number of tourists dropped by a third.
Analyst at Statistics Estonia Helga Laurmaa said in August there were more domestic tourists than foreign tourists in accommodation establishments, similar to previous months of this year: "Two thirds of the tourists in accommodation establishments were domestic tourists and a third were foreign tourists. In 2019, the situation was the reverse."
In August, 219,000 domestic tourists stayed in accommodation establishments, and their nights totalled 377,000.
Compared to August 2019, the number of domestic tourists increased by 8 percent and their nights in accommodation by 9 percent . The majority of domestic tourists were on holiday - 74 percent - and 13 percent were on a business trip.
The largest numbers of domestic tourists stayed in Pärnu County at 18 percent , 16 percent stayed in Harju County, 12 percent in Ida-Viru County, 9 percent in Saare County and 8 percent in Tartu County.
There were 112,000 foreign tourists who stayed in accommodation establishments last month, which is 61 percent fewer than in August 2019.
The largest number - 41,000 - came from Finland, 29,000 tourists came from Latvia and 12,000 from Lithuania.
While the number of Finnish tourists halved compared to the previous year, the number of Latvian tourists increased by a third and the number of Lithuanian tourists by a fifth.
In total, 78 percent of foreign tourists came to Estonia for vacation, 17 percent for business and the rest had another reason for visiting.
Foreign tourists spent 214,000 nights in Estonia this year, which is 60 percent less than in August 2019. Of these foreign tourists, 56 percent stayed in Harju county, 17 percent in Pärnu County, 9 percent in Tartu County and 7 percent in Saare County.
In August, 1,256 accommodation establishments were open to tourists and the average cost of a night's stay was €31. Compared to August 2019, the cost was €8 lower. In Pärnu County, the average cost was €36, in Tartu County €35, in Harju and Saare counties €33 and in Ida-Viru County €31.
In August, rates of coronavirus rose across Europe which stopped many direct flights to and from Tallinn from European cities. A two week quarantine restriction was also applied to most counties which stopped tourists from traveling.
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Editor: Helen Wright