NEWS | Wednesday, 27 February 2008

Nights spent in hotels up by 3.1% in EU27

In 2007 1,578 million nights were spent in hotels and similar establishments in the EU27, which is an increase of 3.1% compared with 2006.
Hotel nights spent by residents in their own country increased by 3.6% to 856 million, while for non-residents hotel nights rose by 2.4% to 722 million. For comparison, the growth rate of total nights spent in hotels in the EU27 was 4.3% in 2006 and 4.6% in 2005.
These estimates were published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.
Amongst the Member States, the highest numbers of nights spent in hotels in 2007 were recorded in Spain (273 mn), Italy (250 mn in 2006), Germany (215 mn), France (204 mn) and the United Kingdom (178 mn). These five countries accounted for more than 70% of the total number of hotel nights in the EU27.
The number of nights spent in hotels in 2007 grew in all Member States, except Cyprus (-4.5%). The highest increases were recorded in Poland (+11.5%), Romania (+9.1%), Latvia (+9.0%), Malta (+8.5%) and the Netherlands (+8.3%).
In 2007, the number of nights spent in hotels in the EU27 was relatively evenly split between non-residents (46%) and residents (54%). The highest proportions of non-residents were found in Malta (96%), Luxembourg (95%), Cyprus (92%), Greece (74%), Austria (73%) and Bulgaria (71%), while the lowest proportions were recorded in Romania (18%), Germany (21%), Sweden (23%) and Finland (29%).
The highest number of hotel nights spent by non-residents was registered in Spain (155 mn), Italy (109 mn in 2006), France (73 mn), the United Kingdom (64 mn) and Austria (57 mn), while for residents the highest levels were observed in Germany (170 mn), Italy (141 mn in 2006), France (131 mn), Spain (117 mn) and the United Kingdom (114 mn).
For non-resident nights, growth in 2007 ranged from -4.8% in Cyprus to +10.2% in Romania, while for residents nights growth ranged from -2.0% in Luxembourg to +21.9% in Latvia.