EU Tourism Sees Strong Rebound From Pandemic With Nights Exceeding 2019 Levels
European Tourism Sees Strong Recovery in 2022, Exceeding Pre-Pandemic Levels
The European Union’s (EU) tourist industry has made a remarkable recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation approaching pre-pandemic levels. According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, there were 2.72 billion nights spent in tourist accommodation last year, representing a decline of only 5.6% compared to 2019 levels.
This resurgence is especially significant when considered against the backdrop of lower figures for 2020 and 2021, which saw declines of 91.1% and 48.3%, respectively, in nights spent in tourist accommodation. The numbers gathered by Eurostat pertain to short-stay accommodations in hotels and similar establishments as well as camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks, and trailer parks.
Eurostat highlights that the tourism sector is rebounding vigorously from the health crises caused by COVID-19. One crucial aspect of this recovery is the resurgence of domestic travel within European nations. In fact, these countries saw a growth exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 0.7% to reach a staggering 1.53 billion nights spent in tourist accommodations.
International Tourism Still Lags Behind
While domestic tourism has shown significant resilience and surpassed pre-crisis levels, international tourism still lags far behind, amounting to only 1.19 billion nights – which is approximately 12.6% less than the figures recorded before the pandemic. Various EU nations have experienced considerable increases in both domestic and foreign travel numbers.
The statistics reveal that Denmark and the Netherlands led the way in terms of domestic tourism recovery, with each country exceeding pre-pandemic levels by an impressive 12.3% and 3.9%, respectively. Belgium followed closely behind, recovering to nearly match its 2019 figures despite a relatively modest growth rate of 0.5%. Other notable performers include non-EU nations such as Liechtenstein, Iceland, and Norway.
On the other end of the scale, Latvia and Slovakia appear to be some of the slowest movers in terms of tourist night numbers recorded in 2022 – with these countries recovering only slightly above 70% of their pre-pandemic (2019) levels.
