Data extracted in June 2025
Planned article update: July 2026
Highlights
In 2024, 854 million nights were booked via collaborative economy platforms – a surge of nearly 19% compared to 2023.
Paris remained the top destination in 2024, with 23.5 million guest nights booked through online platforms.
Source: Eurostat (tour_ce_omn12)
Online platforms have made it significantly easier for individuals to offer short-term rentals, expanding access for both hosts and guests. This growing accessibility has drawn increased attention to the short-term rental segment of the tourist accommodation market. A 2020 agreement between the European Commission and four major platforms (Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor), enabled Eurostat to publish harmonised data on guest nights spent in short-stay accommodations via these platforms, starting from 2018.
The term platform tourism refers specifically to short-term rentals (such as apartments) booked through these four platforms. It excludes more traditional forms of accommodation like hotels or campsites.
After a temporary decline during the pandemic years, platform tourism has not only recovered – it has surged beyond pre-pandemic levels. This strong rebound continued through 2023 and into 2024. This article presents national, regional, and city-level data for guest nights spent in 2023. A dedicated analysis of the pandemic's impact is available separately, as is a shorter article focusing on monthly data that is updated quarterly.
In 2024, guests booked 854 million nights through the platforms – up from 719 million in 2023, 597 million in 2022 and 364 million in 2021. This marks a nearly 19% increase over 2023 and reflects continued momentum following the strong post-2021 recovery (see Figure 1). Guest nights now stand well above the 512 million recorded in 2019.
Notably, 2024 will be the final reference year for which data is available from all four platforms. Tripadvisor publicly announced its exit from this line of business in late 2024, and will no longer contribute data going forward.
In 2024, an average of 2.3 million tourists per night stayed in accommodation booked via the online platforms
In 2024, a total of 854 million guest nights spent in the European Union (EU) and EFTA countries were booked via the four online platforms, (see Table 1 and Figure 1) – the equivalent of 2.34 million guests per night, on average. The guest night metric reflects both the length of stay and the number of individuals in each travel party. It aligns closely with the concept of 'nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments' used in official tourism statistics, and will serve as the main volume indicator throughout this article. More than one fifth of all guest nights in 2024 were spent in France, which recorded 192 million bookings. It was followed by Spain (171 million), Italy (127 million), Germany (60 million) and Greece (45 million), completing the top five. Other countries with more than 10 million guest nights included Portugal (45 million), Poland (39 million), Croatia (38 million), Austria (23 million), Belgium (12 million), Hungary, the Netherlands and Czechia (11 million, each), and Switzerland (10 million).
Source: Eurostat (tour_ce_omr)
Following the pre-pandemic peak of 512 million guest nights in 2019, the number of bookings via platforms dropped sharply in 2020 to 272 million – a 47% decline. The market began to recover in 2021, reaching 364 million guest nights (+34%) and in 2022, it surpassed the pre-pandemic baseline for the first time, with 597 million (+64%). Growth remained strong in 2023 (719 million; +21%) and continued into 2024, reaching 854 million guest nights – a further 19% increase.
This upward trend after the pandemic holds true across the most popular countries as well (see Figure 2). In 2024, year-on-year growth exceeded the overall EU rate in Germany (+22.6%), and slightly surpassed it in France and Spain (both +20.9%).
Source: Eurostat (tour_ce_omr)
In the EU, 6 out of every 10 guest nights in 2024 were spent by international tourists – a total of 531 million guest nights, or 62%. While still dominant, this share remains below pre-pandemic levels (67% in 2019) and has been recovering only gradually (59.9% in 2022 and also 62% in 2023). In 7 of the 31 EU and EFTA countries covered in the analysis, international guests accounted for more than 90% of all platform-booked nights (see Table 1 and Figure 3). In three countries – Liechtenstein, Iceland and Malta – that share exceeded 95%.
Another key metric is the number of stays – that is, individual bookings, regardless of length and number of guests. In 2024, the 854 million guest nights recorded in the EU corresponded to 78 million stays (see Table 1). On average, that is 148 stays booked every minute, or more than 213 thousand each day. France recorded the highest number of stays (18.5 million), followed by Spain (12.2 million) and Italy (11.8 million). Together, these three countries accounted for over half of all stays in 2024.
In 2024, each booking in the EU corresponded to an average of 11 guest nights (see Figure 4). This measure – which reflects both the number of guests and the length of stay – should not be confused with the average stay duration, which excludes group size. The highest guest nights per stay were recorded in southern countries: Malta led with 20, followed by Cyprus (18), Croatia and Spain (14 each), and Portugal and Austria (13 each). At the other end of the scale, bookings in Estonia or Lithuania generated just 6 guest nights on average. This ratio has remained relatively stable over time, aside from a slight uptick during 2020 (11.7).
More than a third of all guest nights were concentrated in the peak summer months – July and August
Source: Eurostat (tour_ce_omr)
Tourism seasonality peaks in July and August – and platform-booked accommodation is no exception. In 2024, over a third of all guest nights in short-term rentals for foreign guests occurred in just two months: 15.8% in July and 17.8% in August (see Figure 5). As in previous years, the quietest months were January, February and November, each accounting for just 4-5% of the annual total.
Source: Eurostat (tour_ce_omr)
In all EU and EFTA countries except Finland – where July and December are the two busiest months – July and August accounted for the highest number of guest nights. However, the intensity of this summer peak varies widely. The strongest seasonality was observed in Croatia, where 58% of all guest nights in 2024 were recorded during July and August, followed by Slovenia (45%), then Sweden and Greece (both 44%) (see Figure 6). By contrast, the summer concentration was far lower in Luxembourg (22%), Finland (25%), in Austria, Czechia, Belgium and Germany (all 26%), where guest nights were more evenly distributed throughout the year.
The 20 most popular regions account for nearly half the total guest nights
Source: Eurostat (tour_ce_omn12)
The 27 EU countries are divided into 242 statistical regions at NUTS 2 level. In 2024, 20 of these regions recorded more than 10 million guest nights booked through the four online platforms (see Figure 7). The three most visited regions were Andalucía (44 million guest nights), Jadranska Hrvatska (Adriatic Croatia, 35 million) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (31 million). Together, these regions accounted for nearly 13% of all platform-booked guest nights in the EU. Overall, the top 20 regions represented almost half (47%) of total guest nights in 2024 (see Table 2). Most of these high-demand regions are located in Spain (7 regions), France (6) and Italy (5), with Croatia and Portugal each contributing one region to the list.
Source: Eurostat (tour_ce_omn12)
The evolution over time of the six most visited regions shows little change in their relative ranking. All have surpassed their pre-pandemic baselines, with Andalucía now taking the lead, significantly overtaking Jadranska Hrvatska as the EU’s most popular region.
Once again, Paris topped the list of Europe’s most popular city destinations
Source: Eurostat (tour_ce_omn12)
The four platforms transmitted data to Eurostat at the level of Local Administrative Units (LAUs), which allows aggregation to the level of Europe’s major cities. In 2024, 69 cities across the EU and EFTA recorded more than one million guest nights, up from 60 cities in 2023 (see Table 3 for the top 20). The leading city destinations for platform-booked accommodation were Paris (23.5 million guest nights – equivalent to nearly 65 thousand guests per night), followed by Rome (15.7 million), Barcelona (12.5 million), Madrid (11.8 million) and Lisbon (11.3 million). Together, these five cities accounted for 74.7 million guest nights, or about 8.8% of the EU and EFTA total (854 million).
Source: Eurostat (tour_ce_omn12)
Looking again at the trends over time for Europe’s most visited cities (Figure 8), it is clear that city tourism has rebounded sharply in the post-pandemic period. All major cities have now surpassed their pre-pandemic records. The strongest year-on-year growth in 2024 was seen in Milan (+27%), Rome (+24.9%) and Madrid (+24.4%), each recording significant increases in guest nights compared with 2023.
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Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
This article is based on data provided to Eurostat by four international platforms — Airbnb, Booking, Expedia, and Tripadvisor — under data exchange agreements concluded in early 2020. The dataset covers short-stay accommodation in EU and EFTA countries offered via any of these platforms.
Both the article and the dataset refer exclusively to accommodation booked through the four platforms. Due to potential overlaps, these figures cannot be combined with other tourism statistics on holiday rentals or hotel stays, such as those available via European statistics on tourist accommodation. Furthermore, only aggregated data across the four platforms are released — no platform-specific figures are published.
The data used in this article are classified as experimental statistics. These rely on new data sources or methods to better meet user needs but have not yet reached the status of fully mature official statistics. The project represents a pioneering step in Eurostat’s direct collaboration with private sector data holders, aiming to deliver reliable and harmonised data across the EU.
Scope and key concepts
- Scope: the data covers holiday rentals (excluding hotels and campsites) offered via four online collaborative economy platforms.
- Number of stays: number of times a facility offered via the platforms was occupied.
- Number of nights: number of nights a facility offered via the platforms was occupied
- Number of guest nights: number of nights spent during a stay, taking into account the size of the travel party; this article. mainly focuses on this concept (e.g.: a family of four staying 3 nights in an apartment represents 1 stay, 3 nights and 12 guest nights).
- Domestic guest nights: guest nights spent by tourists who are residents of the country visited.
- International guest nights: guest nights spent by tourists who are non-residents to the country visited.
- Cities are those local administrative units (LAU) where at least 50% of the population lives in an urban centres; an urban centre is a cluster of contiguous grid cells of 1 km2 with a density of at least 1 500 inhabitants per km2 and collectively a population of at least 50 000 inhabitants. A city can be composed of several local administrative units. For the purpose of these statistics, only 'selected cities' are considered, namely those cities that fulfil at least one of the following criteria: i. capital cities; ii. cities having at least 200 000 inhabitants; iii. other cities in a country that, jointly, account for 90% of annual guest nights spent in cities of that country. Further information on the delineation of the 'selected cities', namely which local administrative units they comprise, can be found
here.
Context
The short-term rental segment of Europe’s tourist accommodation market is growing rapidly. Online booking platforms have created new opportunities — not only for consumers, but also for micro-entrepreneurs and SMEs. However, this fast-paced growth has also raised challenges, especially in high-demand tourist areas. Cities and local communities are increasingly seeking to balance the economic benefits of tourism with the preservation of local life and housing availability.
To support a more balanced development, the European Commission issued guidelines in 2016 on how existing EU rules apply to the collaborative economy. This was followed by a series of workshops in 2017 and 2018, which identified key policy principles and good practices for short-term accommodation services.
In March 2020, the Commission reached landmark agreements with Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor on data sharing. The agreements, signed between each platform and Eurostat on behalf of the Commission, enable Eurostat to publish harmonised statistics on short-stay accommodation booked via these platforms. The platforms regularly provide data on nights booked and number of guests, while ensuring full compliance with EU privacy laws — no data allows the identification of individual citizens or property owners. Notably, however, 2024 will be the final year with data contributions from all four platforms, as Tripadvisor publicly announced its exit from this line of business at the end of 2024 and will no longer provide data going forward.
These agreements filled a long-standing information gap: holiday homes, apartments and rooms in private buildings often fell outside the scope of official tourism registers. The new data, once validated and aggregated by Eurostat, now provide a more complete and reliable view of Europe’s evolving tourism landscape.
Explore further
Other articles
Database
- Tourism (tour), see:
- Accommodation offered via collaborative economy platforms - experimental data (tour_ce)
- Occupancy - monthly data (tour_ce_om)