EU tourism tops 3 billion nights in 2024 after strong Q4
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, reported that 2024 was the best tourism year on record for the EU, with the total number of nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments exceeding 3 billion, WAM reports.
This reflects a 2.2% increase compared with 2023 (+65.4 million nights), following a final boost in the last quarter of the year, Eurostat noted.
Data show a substantial increase of 67.2 million nights spent by international guests (+4.9%) in 2024, while nights spent by domestic guests slightly decreased (-0.1%; -1.8 million).
Spain (500 million), Italy (458 million), France (451 million) and Germany (441 million) registered the highest number of nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments, representing 61.6% of the total nights spent in the EU. Luxembourg (3.4 million), Latvia (4.7 million) and Estonia (6.6 million) registered the lowest number of nights.
Compared with 2023, in 2024, tourism nights rose the most in Malta (+14.4%) and Latvia (+7.4%). On the other hand, they decreased only in Luxembourg (-2.7%), France (-0.6%), Belgium (-0.2%) and Sweden (-0.1%).
The last quarter of 2024 was responsible for the soaring yearly results, with a 5.1% increase in the total nights spent in the EU compared with Q4 2023.
Tourism nights increased in all EU countries in Q4 2024 compared with the same quarter of 2023, except in Ireland where it decreased slightly (-1.8%). Among the other EU countries, the highest quarterly increases were registered in Malta (+16.5%), Latvia (+12.5%), Italy (+11.1%) and Croatia (+10.2%).
Earlier Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan released key statistics on the country’s tourism sector in 2024, highlighting key achievements and ongoing projects.
According to the ministry, in 2024 the country ranked 52nd among 119 tourist destinations in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Travel and Tourism Development Index, up from the previous ranking, in which Kazakhstan was in 66th place.