Statistics: Tourism up 31 percent on year to February 2023
Nearly 222,000 tourists stayed in hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and other accommodation businesses in Estonia in February 2023, a rise of 31 percent on year, state agency Statistics Estonia reports. The number of both domestic and foreign tourists increased in that time, the agency says.
Helga Laurmaa, lead analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that around 103,000 foreign tourists were accommodated in Estonia in February, while the figure for domestic tourism, a phenomenon already familiar during the pandemic, had grown even more, to 119,000.
"More domestic tourists were accommodated than ever before in February," Laurmaa said; the growth stood at 8 percent on year.
The number of foreign tourists grew more on year, by 71 percent, though the overall figure had still to reach pre-pandemic levels and stood at 15 percent less than in February 2020, on the eve of the pandemic.
Tourism in Estonia in February 2023, quick facts (Source: Statistics Estonia)
- In February 2023, 910 accommodation establishments served visitors in Estonia, with 21,000 rooms and 47,000 bed places available for guests.
- The room occupancy rate stood at 42 percent.
- The average cost of a guest night was €42 per person, €6 more than in February 2022 and €8 more than the average cost in February 2020.
- By county, Lääne-Viru County was the most expensive per overnight stay per person, at €51 per night, while Tartu County (€49 per night), Harju County (€45 per night) were above the average; Ida-Viru County's average guest night price was the same as the national average (see above) while Pärnu County – Estonia's summer capital – was cheaper in the off season (€35 per person per guest night).
- Of domestic tourist nights stayed, vacation made up the majority of the total (68 percent), while business trips accounted for 22 percent of the total.
- The largest share of domestic tourists (32 percent) was accommodated in Harju County, with 13 percent statying in Pärnu county, 12 percent in Tartu County, and 10 percent in Ida-Viru County. Eight percent of domestic tourists stayed overnight in Valga county and 6 percent in Lääne-Viru county.
- Domestic tourists spent a total of 202,000 nights in accommodation establishments in February 2023.
- 80 percent of the foreign tourists stayed in accommodation establishments in Harju County, followed by Pärnu (8 percent), Tartu (6 percent), Ida-Viru (1 percent) and Valga (1 percent) counties.
- Foreign tourists spent a total of 208,000 nights in Estonia.
- Compared with February 2022, there were more tourists from many European countries as well as from countries outside of Europe.
- Over 10,000 accommodated tourists from the two neighboring countries – 48,000 from Finland and almost 14,000 from Latvia, a rise on February 2022 in both cases.
- Compared with February 2022, there were also more accommodated tourists from the U.K., Germany, Lithuania, Sweden, Poland, the U.S., and some Asian countries.
More detailed information is here, here and here.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte