Eurostat: Tourism Nights Spent in Greece Rise in 2016

The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in Greece in 2016 is expected to have reached some 99,8 million, up by 1.2 percent compared with the previous year, according to early estimates released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, on Tuesday.

The data showed that the share of nights spent in Greece last year by non-EU residents was 79 percent (or 78.4 million). However, compared with 2015, nights spent in Greek tourist accommodation by EU residents showed a higher increase (+4,9 percent) than non-EU residents (+ 0.2 percent).

Number of tourism nights spent in the EU slightly up in 2016 despite substantial falls in France and the United Kingdom

Overall, in 2016, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the European Union is expected to have reached more than 2.8 billion, up by 2.0 percent compared with 2015.

According to Eurostat, since 2009, there has been a steady increase in the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the EU, notably driven by the rise in the nights spent by non-residents of the member states.

Spain accentuated its lead with 454 million nights (+7.8 percent compared with 2015), ahead of France that saw a substantial fall of -4.6 percent (395 million) and the United Kingdom with a drop of -4.5 percent (292 million).

The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in 2016 grew in nearly all member states, with the largest increases being observed in Bulgaria (+17.9 percent) and Slovakia (+16.0 percent), followed by Poland (+11.8 percent) and Cyprus (+10.9 percent).

In the EU, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments by non-residents grew faster (+3.6 percent) between 2015 and 2016 than those spent by residents (+0.6 percent).

In absolute figures, Spain (294 million nights, or 22 percent of the total of nights spent by non-residents in the EU), Italy (196 mn, or 15 percent), France (122 mn, or 9 percent) and the United Kingdom (120 mn, or 9 percent) recorded the highest number of nights spent by non-residents in their tourism accommodation establishments.

According to Eurostat, almost every EU Member State recorded an increase in the number of tourism nights spent by non-residents. A notable exception is France, where this number decreased by 8.7 percent (or almost 12 mn nights).

Eurostat’s early estimates, which include nights spent whether for business or leisure, were based on available data of the first 10 months of 2016.