Helga Laurmaa, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that 119,000 foreign and 128,000 domestic tourists were accommodated in Estonia in November 2024.

The number of domestic tourists, which was in decline for most months in 2024 year on year, took an upturn in October 2024 and continued this trend in November.

But the number of tourists remained 6 percent smaller than in November of 2019, the pre-pandemic record year.

"Compared with November 2019, there were 12,000 more domestic tourists accommodated, while the number of foreign tourists was lower by 27,000 in November 2024," Laurmaa added. 

Nearly 41,000 tourists arrived from Finland, representing 35 percent of all accommodated foreign tourists.

Accommodation establishments served nearly 22,000 tourists from Latvia (18 percent), over 5,000 tourists from Lithuania (4 percent) and over 5,000 tourists also from the United Kingdom (4 percent).

Compared with November 2023, the numbers of accommodated tourists from the neighbouring countries Finland and Latvia rose by 17 percent and 12 percent, respectively, and there were 11 percent more tourists from Lithuania and 10 percent more tourists from the UK.

In November, the majority (76 percent) of accommodated foreign tourists were on holiday and 19 percent were on business trips. 76 percent of foreign tourists preferred to stay overnight in Harju county, followed by Pärnu (11 percent), Tartu (6 percent) and Ida-Viru (2 percent) counties. Lääne, Lääne-Viru, Saare, Valga and Võru counties each accommodated 1 percent of foreign tourists.

In the case of accommodated domestic tourists, 69 percent were on holiday and 22 percent were on business trips. The biggest share of domestic tourists were accommodated in Harju county (35 percent), followed by Pärnu (14 percent), Tartu (11 percent), Ida-Viru (10 percent) and Valga (6 percent) counties.

Tourists spent a total of 448,500 nights in accommodation establishments: foreign tourists stayed for 242,100 nights and domestic tourists for 206,400 nights in total.

In November, 941 accommodation establishments served visitors in Estonia. There were 21,000 rooms and 49,000 bed places available for guests. The room occupancy rate was 44 percent.

The average cost of a guest night was €47 per person, which is 2 percent more than in November 2023 and 19 percent more than in November 2019. The cost of an overnight stay per person was €54 in Lääne-Viru county, €51 in Tartu county, €49 in Harju county, €45 in Ida-Viru county, €42 in Saare county, and €39 in Pärnu county.

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