Eurostat: Greece Sixth in EU Tourist Accommodation Capacity

Greece was the sixth country in the EU with the highest number of bed-places* in tourist accommodation establishments in 2016, according to data provided recently by Eurostat.

Tourist accommodation establishments include hotels, holiday and other short-stay accommodation, camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks, and trailer parks.

According to the data, 1.2 million bed-places were available in tourist accommodation establishments in Greece in 2016. Over the 2006-2016 decade, available bed-places in tourist accommodation establishments in Greece increased by 454,523, from 786,891 to 1,241,414.

Eurostat revealed that in total, the EU’s capacity of the tourist accommodation sector was estimated at over 31.4 million bed-places in 2016.

France had the highest number of bed-places in tourist accommodation establishments in 2016 with 5.1 million (or 16.4 percent of the EU’s total), followed by Italy with 4.9 million, Spain with 3.5 million, Germany with 3.3 million, The Netherlands with 1.3 million and Greece with 1.2 million.

Moreover, according to Eurostat, over the period 2005-2016, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the EU grew by 26 percent. In particular, there were significant increases in the number of nights spent by non-residents (+ 40 percent) while the number of nights spent by residents during domestic trips increased by 15 percent.

*The number of bed-places in a tourist accommodation establishment is determined by the number of persons who can stay overnight in the beds set up in the establishment, ignoring any extra beds that may be set up upon customer request. The term bed-place applies to a single bed; a double bed is counted as two bed-places.