More data shows European tourism recovery

03-01-23

Residents of European Union member states took a total of 879 million trips for tourism purposes in 2021, with at least one overnight stay, according to a report published by the European Statistical Office, Eurostat has revealed.

These figures reveal that last year saw a 23 per cent increase in the number of tourist trips, compared to the figures for 2020, during which 713 million trips were made, as reported by the portal. 

The recent Eurostat report shows that the spread of COVID-19 and its new variants have led to a shift towards domestic tourism, noting that last year and in 2020, citizens of European countries made around 85 per cent of their tourist trips within their country of residence, compared to a total of 73 per cent of domestic trips recorded in the pre-pandemic period.

The report also notes that, in terms of overnight stays, domestic trips tend to be shorter compared to trips abroad. In addition, the proportion of overnight stays by domestic tourism last year was 73%, compared to 76 in 2020 and 58 in the pre-pandemic period.

In addition, the number of trips taken for personal purposes last year also marked a significant improvement, recovering to a total of 80 per cent of the 2019 level, or more specifically, 811 million trips compared to the 1 billion trips recorded in 2019. But the number of trips for business purposes did not recover significantly, standing at 55 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.