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Data extracted in January 2025.

Planned article update: December 2025.

Highlights

Greece and Cyprus recorded the longest stays by visitors from other EU countries in 2023 (more than 9 nights on average), the average for EU destinations was 7 nights.
In 2023 the highest average expenditure was observed for trips to Greece and Cyprus, 2 countries that are mainly reached by air travel.
Most countries are predominantly reached by car, but more than one-third of the destination countries is most frequently visited by airplane (mainly island destinations and more remote countries in the EU).

[[File:Trips made by EU residents to other EU countries average duration by destination country 2023.xlsx]]

Trips made by EU residents to other EU countries - average duration by destination country, 2023

  • Source: Eurostat (online data codes: tour_dem_ttw, tour_dem_tnw)

This article is part of the Eurostat online publication Tourism trips of Europeans, providing recent statistics on tourism demand in the European Union (EU) and EFTA countries.

Three types of tourism flows can be distinguished: domestic tourism (persons making tourism trips within their country of residence), outbound tourism and inbound tourism. Until recently, the main source for European statistics on inbound tourism was statistics on arrivals and nights spent by non-residents at tourist accommodation establishments.

This article tries to fill the data gap on inbound tourism by, at least for trips within the EU, re-using the outbound flows reported by countries to a range of destination countries as an estimate of the inbound flows from the point of view of those destination countries. The methodological approach is based on the simple fact that an outbound flow for 1 country represents an inbound flow for the country visited. When all outbound trips made by Europeans to a given country (as their main destination) are combined, an estimate of the intra-EU inbound tourism flows into this country can be obtained. The aim of this last article in the online publication Tourism trips of Europeans is mainly to briefly outline the potential offered by using partner countries' data to produce otherwise unavailable information, rather than to draw a comprehensive picture of inbound tourism. Note that for the segment of trips spent at rented accommodation, statistics on nights spent and arrivals by non-residents do exist (see the article on Tourism statistics - annual results for the accommodation sector).

Europeans stay around 1 week on average when visiting other EU countries

In 2023, tourism trips made by EU residents to another EU Member State had an average duration longer of almost 1 week (6.9 nights), ranging from 3.4 nights for trips to Estonia and 3.9 nights in Belgium to over 9 nights for trips to Greece and Cyprus (see Figure 1).

A vertical bar chart showing the trips made by EU residents to other EU countries by average duration by destination country in 2023. The bars show the number of Nights spent in the EU, EU Member States and some of the EFTA countries
Figure 1: Trips made by EU residents to other EU countries - Average duration by destination country, 2023 (Nights)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttw) (tour_dem_tnw)

Differences in the duration of trips across Europe are often associated with accessibility in terms of transport and the proximity of the main generating markets. For instance, the relative price (and distance) to reach Greece or Cyprus and the fact that they are top holidays destinations will motivate tourists to stay longer, while the proximity and accessibility of Belgium to its main generating market (the Netherlands, followed by France) will make short breaks of a few days the more likely way of visiting this country. This also applied to Luxembourg, whose main generating market was the nearby Germany, followed by the Netherlands.

Average expenditure on trips to another EU country is €824

Inbound visitors coming from other EU Member States spent on average €824 (see Figure 2), ranging from €314 in Slovakia (a country seeing many tourists from neighbouring countries on a short trip – see also Figure 1) to €1 279 in Greece, followed by Cyprus (€1 271), Spain (€1 097) and Ireland (€1 091). These 4 destinations have relatively long stays of around 8 nights or more on average and a prevalence (77% of trips or more) of air travel to reach the country (see Table 1).

Per night, visitors from the EU to other EU countries spent on average €119 (see Figure 3), ranging from €71 for trips to Slovakia and €80 to Romania, to over €150 per night for trips to Malta and Finland. For 3 EFTA countries, the average expenditure per night of EU visitors was higher than the EU average, peaking in Iceland at €189.

A vertical bar chart showing the average expenditure per trip made by EU residents to other EU countries, by destination country in 2023 in Euro, in the EU, EU Member States and some of the EFTA countries.
Figure 2: Trips made by EU residents to other EU countries - Average expenditure per trip, by destination country, 2023 (€)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_extotw)


A vertical bar chart showing the average expenditure per night spent by EU residents to other EU countries by destination country in 2023 in Euro, in the EU, EU Member States and some of the EFTA countries.
Figure 3: Trips made by EU residents to other EU countries - Average expenditure per night by destination country, 2023 (€)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_extotw)

For intra-EU trips, car is the dominant means of transport

Residents of the EU made 233 million tourism trips of at least 1 overnight stay to destinations in another EU Member State in 2023. For 45% of those trips, rented or private motor vehicles were the main means of transport (see Table 1), followed by airplane (40%). Train (6%), bus (5%) and transport using waterways (3%) were far less significant.

A table showing the trips made by EU residents to other EU countries as a percentage share of means of transport by destination country in 2023 in the EU, EU Member States and some of the EFTA countries. The columns show air, waterway, railway, bus, motor vehicle and other.
Table 1: Trips made by EU residents to other EU countries - Share of means of transport by destination country, 2023 (%)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttw) (tour_dem_tttr)

When looking at the countries visited, air transport accounted for at least 3 out of 4 intra-EU inbound flows in Malta (99%), Cyprus (94%), Greece (85%), Ireland (81%) and Spain (77%). Note that all these destinations are islands or have an important part of their destinations situated on islands (Greek Islands, Canary or Balearic Islands etc.).

In 5 countries, the share of inbound trips made by motor vehicle was 60% or more: Slovakia (77%), Austria (73%), Croatia (70%), Slovenia (69%) and the Netherlands (66%).

Only in Estonia was waterway the dominant means of transport for inbound visitors (66% of all intra-EU trips) most likely because of the popular ferry connection between Tallinn and Helsinki. The share of waterway was particularly high also for intra-EU trips to Finland (35%) and Sweden (21%).

Railway was relatively significant for visitors to Luxembourg (31% of intra-EU inbound trips), probably due to the free public transport inside the country, as well as to Belgium (18%), Germany (13%) and Denmark, France, Slovakia (12% each), while buses were relatively significant (at least 10%) for intra-EU trips to Lithuania and Latvia.

Over 2 out of 3 intra-EU tourism nights are spent in rented tourist accommodation

In 2023, EU residents spent 1.6 billion tourism nights during their trips to other EU countries. 72.0% of those nights were spent in rented tourist accommodation establishments (see Figure 4). Hotels or similar accommodation providing services such as daily cleaning and bed-making came on top with 40%, while 22% of all intra-EU tourism nights were spent at a house, villa or apartment and 7% in campsites (including caravan or trailer parks). The remaining 4% were spent in other types of rented accommodation (e.g. youth hostel, mountain hut).

Looking at non-rented accommodation, own holiday homes accounted for 7% of all intra-EU tourism nights and accommodation provided for free by friends or relatives for 17%.

A pie chart showing the Tourism nights spent by EU residents to other EU countries, share by type of accommodation in 2023. The segments show rented hotels and similar, rented campsites, rented house, villa or apartment, rented other, non-rented own holiday homes, non-rented by relatives or friends and non-rented other.
Figure 4: Tourism nights spent by EU residents to other EU countries - Share by type of accommodation, 2023 (%)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_tnw) (tour_dem_tnac)

Across the EU, the significance of rented and non-rented accommodation for inbound visitors was quite contrasting, with the share of rented accommodation ranging from 97% of all EU residents' tourism nights in Malta to 21% of those spent in Romania (see Figure 5).

A vertical stacked bar chart showing Tourism nights spent by EU residents to other EU countries - Share by type of accommodation, by destination country, 2023 in percentage, in the EU, EU Member States and some of the EFTA countries. The stacks show rented accommodation and non-rented accommodation.
Figure 5: Tourism nights spent by EU residents to other EU countries - Share by type of accommodation, by destination country, 2023 (%)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_tnw) (tour_dem_tnac)

More than 1 in 4 intra-EU trips are made in July and August

Looking at the breakdown by month of departure of trips, August (13.7%) and July (12.5%) accounted for more than 1 out of 4 trips, while January represented only 4.0% of intra-EU trips in 2023 (see Table 2).

A table showing Trips made by EU residents to other EU countries as a distribution over the year, by destination country, in 2023, in the EU, EU Member States and some of the EFTA countries. The columns show the share of each month.
Table 2: Trips made by EU residents to other EU countries - Distribution over the year, by destination country, 2023 (%)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttw)

Seasonality of inbound trips by visitors coming from other EU countries was particularly high in Croatia, where a little less than half of all inbound trips (44.3%) took place during the 2 core summer months, July and August. In Bulgaria the share of these 2 months was 42.5%, followed by Greece (36.7%) (see Figure 6).

A line chart with four lines showing the distribution over the year of EU residents' trips to Bulgaria, Greece and Croatia in 2023. The lines show the EU, Bulgaria, Greece and Croatia.
Figure 6: Distribution over the year of EU residents' trips to Bulgaria, Greece and Croatia, 2023 (%)
Source: Eurostat (tour_dem_ttw)

Source data for tables and graphs

Data sources

Collection of annual data on trips of EU residents

The collection consists of harmonised data collected by the Member States in the frame of the Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism.

The scope of observation for data on tourism trips are all tourism trips with at least 1 overnight stay, made by the resident population aged 15 and over. It includes trips made for private or professional purpose, outside the usual environment.

Data on type of destination is sent to Eurostat every 3 years. This article includes data for the reference year 2022. Next transmission will take place in 2026 for the reference year 2025. For this variable, multiple answer possibilities are allowed. In case of a trip involving several destinations, it should refer to the entire trip and not only to the main destination of the trip.

Context

The EU is a major tourist destination, with 6 EU countries among the world's top 10 destinations for holidaymakers, according to UN Tourism[1] data. Tourism is an important activity in the EU which contributes to employment and economic growth, as well as to the development of rural, peripheral or less-developed areas. Tourism is estimated to account for 4.5% to the EU's gross value added. These characteristics drive the demand for reliable and harmonised statistics on this activity, as well as within the wider context of regional policy and sustainable development policy areas.


Notes

  1. ↑ UN Tourism

Explore further

Other articles


Database


Tourism trips (tour_dem_tt)
Tourism nights (tour_dem_tn)
Expenditure on tourism trips (tour_dem_ex)

Thematic section


Publications


Selected datasets


Trips by detailed country/world region of main destination (tin00190)
Nights spent by detailed country/world region of the main destination (tin00193)

Methodology



External links


Legislation


  • With 2012 as reference year:
  • Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism and repealing Council Directive 95/57/EC. (Summary)
  • Regulation (EU) No 1051/2011 of 20 October 2011 implementing Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 concerning European statistics on tourism, as regards the structure of the quality reports and the transmission of the data.
  • Previous legal acts (concerning reference periods before 2012):
  • Directive 95/57/EC of 23 November 1995 on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism.
  • Commission Decision 1999/35/CE of 9 December 1998 on the procedures for implementing Council Directive 95/57/EC on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism.
  • Commission Decision 2004/883/CE of 10 December 2004 adjusting the Annex to Council Directive 95/57/EC on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism as regards country lists.
  • Directive 2006/110/EC of 20 November 2006 adapting Directives 95/57/EC and 2001/109/EC in the field of statistics, by reason of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania.

Visualisation


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