Statistics: More than 3 million tourists accommodated in Estonia in 2022
Accommodation establishments in Estonia served a total of more than 3 million tourists last year, including increased numbers of foreign and domestic tourists alike compared with 2021 figures, Statistics Estonia said Thursday.
Nearly 1.5 million foreign tourists and 1.8 million tourists were accommodated in Estonia last year, Helga Laurmaa, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said according to a press release. Foreign tourist figures do not include refugees from Ukraine.
"Compared with 2021, there were 161 percent more foreign tourists," Laurmaa said. "Their number did not yet reach pre-pandemic levels; it was comparable to the figure for 2005. But for the second year in a row, the number of domestic tourists set a new record."
The highest number of foreign visitors came from Finland (589,000) and Latvia (204,000). Compared with 2021, the number of accommodated tourists from Estonia's northern and southern neighboring countries increased by 310 and 130 percent, respectively. Tourist arrivals from Finland have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels, however the number of tourists from Latvia increased 12 percent.
Last December, a total of 257,000 tourists were accommodated in Estonia, up one third compared with December 2021. This included nearly 121,000 foreign tourists, marking an increase of 69 percent on year, and about 137,000 domestic tourists, up 11 percent on year.
Of foreign tourists, who spent a total of nearly 242,000 nights in Estonia, 83 percent stayed at accommodation establishments in Harju County, followed by Pärnu County (8 percent) and Tartu County (4 percent).
The largest share of domestic tourists, 34 percent, was accommodated in Harju County, while 14 percent stayed overnight in Pärnu County, 12 percent in Tartu County, 10 percent in Ida-Viru County and 6 percent in Valga County. Domestic tourists spent a total of 219,000 nights at accommodation establishments across Estonia last December.
In all, 944 accommodation establishments offering five or more bed places were open for tourists last December — 10 fewer than in November. Available for guests were 21,000 rooms and 48,000 bed places, with a room occupancy rate of 40 percent.
The average cost of a guest night in December 2022 was €46 per person, up by €1 compared with the previous month. The average cost of an overnight stay per person was €51 in Tartu County, €49 in Harju and Ida-Viru counties, €40 in Valga County and €39 in Pärnu County.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla
