Foreign tourists spend €420 million in Estonia in second quarter

Some 1.7 million foreign tourists visited Estonia in the second quarter of 2019, 2 percent fewer than in the second quarter of 2018, the Bank of Estonia said on Thursday.
Tourists from Finland accounted for one third of all visitors during the second quarter, however the number thereof had decreased by 9 percent on year, the Bank of Estonia said in a press release. In contrast, the number of visits by residents of other EU member states had increased 4 percent on year, including 15 percent more visitors each from Lithuania and Denmark.
Russian residents paid 200,000 visits to Estonia in the second quarter, 3 percent fewer than during the same quarter last year.
Foreign tourists spent an estimated €420 million while visiting Estonia in the second quarter. Overnight visits increased by 3 percent, lasting an average of three nights. 45 percent of all visits were daytrips.
Estonian residents, meanwhile, made some 950,000 trips abroad in the second quarter, remaining steady on year overall. Trips to other EU member states were down 3 percent, with significant drops in the numbers of trips to Hungary and Poland. More trips were taken to the U.K. and Turkey than during the same quarter last year, however. Visits to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states increased 9 percent on year, with the number of visits to Ukraine up by half.
Estonian tourists spent an estimated €300 million abroad in the second quarter. Overnight visits averaged four nights in length, while daytrips, down in number by 3 percent on year, accounted for 14 percent of all trips abroad.
The Bank of Estonia noted that the term tourist applies in this context to both leisure and business travelers, as well as people traveling for any other purpose.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla