Number of foreign tourists visiting Estonia doubled in September
In September 2021, Estonian accommodation establishments served over 214,000 tourists, which is 40 percent more than in the same month last year, data from Statistics Estonia shows. The numbers of domestic tourists and foreign tourists both increased.
Helga Laurmaa, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said: "People are tired of the restrictions and are using the opportunities to travel. Compared to September 2020, there was 21 percent more domestic tourists and 97 percent more foreign tourists accommodated this September."
Compared to September 2019, before the crisis, the number of accommodated domestic tourists grew by a third, while the number of foreign tourists fell by 61 percent.
Accommodation establishments served nearly 140,000 domestic tourists who spent a total of 228,000 nights.
For 63 percent of domestic tourists, the purpose of their trip was a holiday, and 25 percent were on business trips. The biggest share of domestic tourists (29 percent) were accommodated in Harju County, 16 percent in Pärnu County, 11 percent in Tartu County and 10 percent in Ida-Viru County.
There were over 74,000 accommodated foreign tourists, and they spent a total of almost 165,000 nights in Estonia.
In September, year on year, there was an increase in the number of tourists from most European countries as well as from countries farther away.
The number of tourists from Finland was over 20,000, which is 25 percent more than in September 2020, and there were 9,000 tourists from Latvia (58 percent more) and nearly 3,000 tourists from Russia (133 percent more).
But the number of foreign tourists was still much lower than in September 2019 before the crisis.
The biggest share of foreign tourists (74 percent) were accommodated in Harju county, followed by Pärnu (8 percent) and Tartu (7 percent) counties.
In September, there were 1,094 accommodation establishments open for tourists in Estonia, which is five establishments more than last year. There were 22,000 rooms and 53,000 bed places available for guests. The room occupancy rate was 36%.
The average cost of a guest night was €36 per person, which is €3 more than in the same month last year but four euros cheaper than in September 2019.
The average cost of an overnight stay per person was €31 in Pärnu county, €39 in Harju county and €41 in Tartu and Saare counties.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Helen Wright
