France and Italy Constitute One-third of all Beds for Tourists Travelling to the EU

Eurostat, European Office for Statistics revealed that travellers visiting Europe had access to 28.1 million beds across 597,000 hotels in 2021.

As per the authority’s press release, France and Italy constitute over one-third of the total beds with places for 5.1 million beds.

Comparing beds availability, Spain stands third with places for 3.8 million beds (13 per cent of the total). Germany comes next with places for 3.5 million beds.

Others on the list include the Netherlands with five per cent capacity, Greece, Austria, and Croatia with four per cent each, and Czechia, Poland, and Sweden with three per cent each.

The count of beds and establishments stayed mainly unchanged when the world was suffering from the pandemic in 2020. However, the number was lower in the pre-pandemic phase in 2021. The count of beds was 2% lower at 28.8 million and that of establishments was 3% lower at 617,953.

Eurostat also shared numbers on how many tourists from the EU vs non-EU countries. Out of the 591 million nights, international travellers from other EU states consumed around 75% (3 quarters). However, the number of travellers from the UK and other European countries consumed only 16% of the total.

Moreover, changes in the market segmentation also showed up, probably due to COVID-led travel restrictions. The number of tourists from other EU states staying overnight increased by 15 percentage points. On the other hand, visitors from non-EU states spending nights decreased by 8%.

Travellers from other regions doing nighttime stays were 8% in 2021, which is half of the 16% in 2019.

The report also shared the percentage of tourists spending nighttime in EU tourist accommodations from different continents. Visitors from North America were 4% in 2021 while those from Asia, Central and South America, Africa, and Oceania were 2, 1, 1, and 0.1% respectively.

ETC (European Travel Commission) shared data stating that Europeans will keep on planning for intra-EU travel in the upcoming season.

Luís Araújo, ETC President commented on the research stating “While the cost-of-living crisis is another undeniable challenge for tourism in Europe, ETC is heartened to see that travel remains a priority for Europeans in the coming months. Now it is of the utmost importance for Europe to ensure a more resilient industry, supporting the digital and environmental transition and putting people at the centre of development.”

As per ETC findings, there’s a rise in intra-European travel sentiments with 62% of respondents planning their trips within the EU. This marks the strongest internal tourism sentiment since 2020.