The number of foreign tourists visiting Estonia was significantly smaller than in August 2019, before the coronavirus crisis, and in August last year.

There were 97,000 accommodated foreign tourists, which is 66 percent less than in August 2019 and 13 percent less than in August 2020.

Foreign tourists spent a total of 209,000 nights in Estonia, which is 3 percent less than last year.

Analyst at Statistics Estonia Helge Laurmaa said: "The number of tourists from Finland, which has a significant impact on the Estonian hotel market, was 21,000. This represents just 51 percent of last year's level and 26 percent of the pre-crisis level. There were 49 percent fewer tourists from Latvia and 50 percent fewer tourists from Lithuania. There were several more distant countries from which a much larger number of tourists came to Estonia compared to August last year, but these numbers were still considerably lower than in the pre-crisis years."

In August, there were 1,202 accommodation establishments open for tourists in Estonia, which is 4 percent less than last year and 14 percent less than in 2019.

There were 23,000 rooms and 55,000 bed places available for guests. The room occupancy rate was 45 percent.

The average cost of a guest night was €35 per person, which is €4 more than in the same month last year but four euros cheaper than in August 2019. The average cost of an overnight stay per person was €36 in Pärnu county, €38 in Tartu county and €39 in Harju and Saare counties.

Domestic tourists increased compared to both August 2020 and August 2019, while the number of foreign tourists was still lower than in previous years.

Laurmaa said tourism in Estonia was boosted by domestic tourists: "The coronavirus-related restrictions had been eased and people made more trips within Estonia. Compared to August 2020, there were 12 percent more domestic tourists and the number of nights spent by them increased by 11 percent." 

She added: "Compared to August 2019, when the crisis had not yet begun, the number of domestic tourists grew by as much as 21 percent."

Accommodation establishments served nearly 245,000 domestic tourists who spent a total of 418,000 nights.

For 70 percent of domestic tourists, the purpose of their trip was a holiday, and 17 percent were on business trips.

The biggest share of domestic tourists (20 percent) stayed overnight in Harju county; 18 percent of domestic tourists were accommodated in Pärnu county, 10 percent in both Tartu and Ida-Viru county, and 9 percent in Saare county.

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