Tourism statistics - summer season occupancy

From Statistics Explained

Data from February 2013, most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article analyses the tourism trends of the 2012 summer season (June to September) in the European Union (EU) Member States and EFTA countries. In terms of nights spent at hotels and similar accommodation establishments, tourism recorded positive growth rates in most countries, compared with the same period in 2011.

Figure 1: Percentage change in number of nights spent at hotels and similar accommodation establishments, non-residents and residents, June - September 2012 compared with the same period in 2011
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nim)

Table 1: Nights spent at hotels and similar accommodation establishments, non residents and residents, June-September 2012 compared with the same period in 2011
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nim)

Table 2: Net occupancy rates of bed-places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nor_bp)

Figure 2: Net occupancy rates of bed-places in hotels and similar accommodation establishments in the peak month, summer season 2012
Source: Eurostat (tour_occ_nor_bp)

Main statistical findings

Summer season tourism trends in 2012

In 15 out of 21 Member States where data is available and comparable^[1], nights spent at hotels and similar accommodation establishments recorded positive growth rates during the summer season 2012 compared with the same period of the previous year. The highest increases were observed in Hungary (+12.1 %) and Lithuania (+10.8 %) (Figure 1).

Nevertheless, this positive growth is not reflected in the EU-27 figures where a drop of -1.1 % was observed. This is due to the decline in the number of nights spent at hotels and similar accommodation establishments reported by six Member States (Italy, Belgium, Estonia, Slovenia, France and Spain) representing almost half of the total nights spent at hotels and similar accommodation establishments of the European Union.

The most popular destinations for non-residents (tourists travelling outside their country of residence) were Spain, Italy and France, together accounting for almost half of all nights spent by non-residents in the EU-27 (Table 1).

Nights spent by residents and non-residents

In the European Union, the number of nights spent by non-residents at hotels and similar establishments increased by 1.1 % in summer 2012 compared with the same period of 2011. This tendency was observed in all Member States where data is available, except for Estonia (-2.8 %), Belgium(-2.1 %), Italy (-1.4 %), the Netherlands (-1.0 %) and Sweden (-1.0 %) (Table 1).

The share of non-residents was more than 90 % in Malta (97.0 %) and Cyprus (92.4 %), while it was particularly low in Romania (14.9 %).

In terms of nights spent by residents (tourists travelling inside their country of residence) staying at hotels and similar establishments, domestic tourism decreased during the 2012 summer season in the European Union (-3.3 %).

Net occupancy rates of bed places

Compared with the same months of the previous year, net occupancy rates of bed places in the European Union decreased by 0.8 percentage points during the 2012 summer season. These rates ranged from 28.2 % in Romania and Slovakia (June) to 94.8 % in Cyprus (August) (Table 2).

In most of the countries August was the month with the highest occupancy rates. With 94.8 %, 84.0 % and 75.6 % respectively, Cyprus, Malta and Spain were the EU-27 countries with the highest net occupancy rates during their peak summer month (Figure 2).

Data sources and availability

Symbols ":" data unavailable or unreliable

Context

In terms of nights spent at hotels and similar accommodation establishments, in 2012 summer season, tourism recorded positive growth rates in most countries, compared with the same period in 2011.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

• Europeans take 46% of their holidays in the third quarter of the year - Statistics in focus 54/2010
• July and August account for one third of all annual nights spent in accommodation establishments in the EU - Statistics in focus 53/2010

• Recent Eurostat publications on tourism

Main tables

• Tourism (t_tour)

Database

• Tourism (tour), see:

Occupancy in collective accommodation establishments: domestic and inbound tourism (tour_occ)

Nights spent by residents and non-residents (tour_occ_n)

Occupancy rates for hotels and similar establishments (tour_occ_or)

Dedicated section

• Tourism statistics

Source data for tables and figures on this page (MS Excel)

• Download Excel file

Methodology/Metadata

• Occupancy in collective accommodation establishments: domestic and inbound tourism (ESMS metadata file - tour_occ_esms)

• Tourism statistics in the European Statistical System - 2008 data

Other information

• With 2012 as reference year:

Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism and repealing Council Directive 95/57/EC.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1051/2011 of 20 October 2011 implementing Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism, as regards the structure of the quality reports and the transmission of the data.

• Previous legal acts (concerning reference periods before 2012):

Directive 95/57/EC of 23 November 1995 on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism.

Commission Decision 1999/35/CE of 9 December 1998 on the procedures for implementing Council Directive 95/57/EC on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism.

Commission Decision 2004/883/CE of 10 December 2004 adjusting the Annex to Council Directive 95/57/EC on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism as regards country lists.

Directive 2006/110/EC of 20 November 2006 adapting Directives 95/57/EC and 2001/109/EC in the field of statistics, by reason of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania.

External links

• Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism (Communication from the European Commission, October 2007)
• European Commission - Enterprise and Industry - Supporting European tourism

See also

• Tourism statistics - winter season occupancy
• Seasonality in tourism demand
• Tourism statistics
• Tourism statistics at regional level
• Tourism trends

Notes

1. ↑ Due to methodological changes, 2012 data on nights spent for Latvia, Romania, the United Kingdom and Croatia is not comparable with previous years.