Information on data
The aim of tourism statistics is to provide a full picture of tourism levels and trends in a comparable way across EU countries.
Tourism statistics may be used to answer questions such as:
- what are the top regions in the EU for international tourists?
- how many Europeans go on holidays in their own country, and what means of transport do they use?
- how many stays in short-term rentals in major cities are booked via online platforms?
- how much does the tourism sector contribute directly to the EU's gross value added?
Data sources
Tourism statistics are collected via monthly and quarterly surveys. This depends on the topic and the country running the survey.
The data on online platforms is based on data sharing agreements with 4 major international platforms offering short-stay accommodation. These are Airbnb, Booking.com, Tripadvisor, and Expedia Group.
Reference periods and data release
Usually 2.5 months after the end of the reference month, Eurostat releases monthly data on nights spent and arrivals in tourist accommodation establishments for the EU aggregate. For example, monthly data for January 2023 were released mid-April 2023.
Data for countries is generally released faster, namely soon after the transmission deadline for countries, which is set at 45 days after the reference month.
Monthly data on online accommodation platforms are released on a quarterly basis as follows:
- 3 months after the end of the reference quarter: data for countries are released;
- 6 months after the end of the reference quarter: data for regions and cities are released.
This practice is in line with the non-disclosure agreements made with the platforms.
Countries submit this data to Eurostat within 6 months after the end of the reference year.
Usually, in the 4th quarter of the year following the reference year, Eurostat then releases annual data on tourism demand and more detailed annual data on tourist accommodation. For example, data for 2021 were released in the 4th quarter of 2022.
Available variables
The main variables and breakdowns include:
- capacity: number of establishments, number of bed places, number of bedrooms, broken down by
- type of accommodation
- region (level 2) based on the nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS)
- type of locality (coastal and non-coastal area, and degree of urbanisation)
- occupancy: number of arrivals, number of nights spent, broken down by
- type of accommodation
- origin of the guest
- NUTS 2 or NUTS 3 region
- type of locality
- (selected) cities
- month
The main variables and breakdowns for data on tourism demand include:
- participation in tourism: number of residents making at least 1 tourism trip during the year, broken down by
- duration and destination
- profile of the visitor (such as age or gender)
- tourism trips made by EU residents: number of trips, number of nights spent, expenditure, broken down by
- country of destination
- duration
- purpose
- main means of transport
- main means of accommodation
- profile of the visitor (such as age or gender)
- same-day visits: number of outbound same-day visits for personal purposes, number of outbound same-day visits for professional purposes
Tourism statistics also use data from labour market statistics, for example the number of persons employed in tourism industries, and from other business statistics, such as the number of enterprises, their employment, value added and turnover.
Data revisions
Published data may be subject to revisions, but from experience, these rarely occur.
If a case arises, the country submits a revised dataset to Eurostat.
After validation by Eurostat, the revised data and, where applicable, the corresponding revised aggregates for the European Union and euro area are disseminated in the database.