A little over 222,000 tourists, both foreign and domestic, stayed in Estonia's hotels, guest houses and other accommodation businesses in the month of November, Statistics Estonia reports.

This also represents a fall on month of 11 percent, though this fits in with the lull period between late summer and the start of the festive season.

Both foreign and domestic tourism numbers fell on year, Statistics Estonia says.

Commenting on the results, Helga Laurmaa, lead analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that: "The number of domestic tourists was 3 percent higher than in 2019, ie. before the pandemic."

"However domestic tourism was 1 percent down on November 2022's figure."

Domestic tourism, ie. Estonian citizens and residents being accommodated within their own country, rose during the pandemic after various travel restrictions were put in place.

As for foreign tourists, "nearly 104,000 stayed in accommodation establishments [in November 2023], 29 percent less than in November 2019 and 2 percent down on November 2022."

Foreign tourists accommodated in Estonia in November 2023: Quick facts (source: Statistics Estonia):

• Foreign travelers spent nearly 211,000 nights in total in Estonia.
• 71 percent of the foreign tourists reported the purpose of their trip was a vacation, while 23 percent were travelling on business.
• 76 percent of the foreign visitors were put up in accommodation establishments in Harju County, the most populous region of the country and including Tallinn, the capital.
• 10 percent stayed in Pärnu County, which sees more visitors in summer time; 6 percent stayed in Tartu and in Tartu County, and Ida-Viru County and Saaremaa accounted for 2 percent each of the total; Lääne, Lääne-Viru, Valga and Võru counties for 1 percent each.
• By country of origin, the largest share came from Finland (34 percent of the total), followed by Latvia (19 percent), the U.K. and Lithuania (5 percent each), and Germany (4 percent).
• On year, the number of tourists rose from both nearer EU nations and from further afield.
• The U.K. saw the largest rise on year, at 39 percent, followed by Latvia (12 percent) and Lithuania (4 percent), while the number of visitors arriving from "Asian countries" rose by 38 percent.
• Numbers from Finland and Sweden fell, while the number of visitors from Germany remained unchanged on year.

Domestic tourists accommodated in Estonia in November 2023: Quick facts (source: Statistics Estonia)

• 119,000 domestic tourists were accommodated in Estonia in November, spending a total of 193,000 nights in hotels and other accommodation businesses.
• 67 percent said they were on holiday; 24 percent were on business trips.
• Again, the largest share of domestic tourists (at 35 percent) was accommodated in Tallinn/Harju County, 13 percent in Pärnu and Tartu counties each, and 10 percent in Ida-Viru County.

Occupancy, rates in November 2023: Quick facts (source: Statistics Estonia)

• A total of 953 accommodation businesses took on guests in Estonia in November 2023 (26 fewer than in October).
• A total of 21,000 rooms and nearly 49,000 bed places were available for guests.
• Room occupancy stood at 40 percent.
• The average cost of a guest night was €46 per person, a rise of one euro on year and and €7 on November 2019, the last full pre-pandemic year.
• The average cost of an overnight stay per person was €50 in Lääne-Viru county, €49 in Harju (including Tallinn) and Tartu counties, €46 in Ida-Viru County, €43 in Lääne County, €38 on Saaremaa and €37 in Pärnu County.

Statistics Estonia compiled the above data on behalf the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.

More detailed information from Statistics Estonia is here, here and here.

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