Helga Laurmaa, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that the increase in the number of tourists was mainly due to the fact that the use of accommodation establishments was limited in April last year.

"This year, people behaved much more confidently and accommodation establishments served 50,000 domestic tourists, which is over three times as many as in the same month last year," noted Laurmaa.

The number of accommodated foreign tourists remained low, although it was nearly six times higher than in April last year. Accommodation establishments served 9,000 foreign tourists in total. There were over 1,000 tourists each from Finland and Latvia, 726 tourists from Germany, 634 tourists from Lithuania and 596 tourists from Russia.

The majority of foreign tourists preferred to stay overnight in Harju county, followed by Tartu, Pärnu and Viljandi counties. In the case of domestic tourists, 40 percent were accommodated in Harju county, 13 percent in Tartu county and 9 percent in Pärnu county.

Tourists spent a total of 129,000 nights in accommodation establishments – domestic tourists accounted for 75 percent and foreign tourists for 25 percent of the nights spent. There was a twofold increase in the total number of nights spent.

In April, there were 915 accommodation establishments open for tourists in Estonia, which is 10 percent more than the year before. There were 19,000 rooms and 44,000 bed places available for guests. The room occupancy rate was 15 percent. The average cost of a guest night was €28 per person – this is €9 higher than in April last year, when prices were very low. The average cost of an overnight stay was €29 in Harju county, €28 in Pärnu county, and €26 in Ida-Viru and Tartu counties.

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