TALLINN, Sep 11, BNS - According to Statistics Estonia, accommodation establishments served 507,600 tourists in July 2024, which is 5 percent more than in July last year.

The number of foreign tourists increased, but the number of domestic tourists decreased in July.

Helga Laurmaa, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that although the number of tourists was higher than in July last year, demand has not yet returned to the level before the recent turbulent years and thus the number of tourists was 3 percent lower than in July 2019.

"272,500 foreign and 235,100 domestic tourists were accommodated in Estonia in July 2024. Year on year, there were 13 percent more foreign tourists and 2 percent fewer domestic tourists," Laurmaa added.

Over half of the foreign tourists arrived from two neighboring countries -- 127,500 from Finland and 21,900 from Latvia. Altogether 18,200 people travelled to Estonia from Germany, 10,000 from Lithuania, and 8,600 from Sweden. Compared with July last year, the biggest increase occurred in the number of tourists from Germany, up by 37 percent.

The vast majority of foreign tourists, 85 percent, were on holiday, while a tenth were travelling on business. Altogether 69 percent of foreign tourists preferred to stay overnight in Harju County, followed by Pärnu County with 12 percent, Tartu County with 6 percent and Saare County with 4 percent.

Among domestic tourists, 79 percent were on holiday and 11 percent were travelling on business. The biggest share of domestic tourists, 21 percent, were accommodated in Harju County, followed by Pärnu County with 18 percent, East-Viru County with 10 percent and Saare County with 9 percent.

Tourists spent a total of 960,100 nights in accommodation establishments: domestic tourists stayed for 430,200 nights and foreign tourists for 529,900 nights in total.

In July, 1,238 accommodation establishments served visitors in Estonia. There were 24,500 rooms and 58,700 bed places available for guests. The room occupancy rate was 61 percent. The average cost of a guest night was 49 euros per person, which is two euros more than in July 2023 and 23 percent more than in July 2019. The cost of an overnight stay per person was 58 euros in Pärnu County, 51 euros in Harju and Saare counties, 48 euros in Tartu County, 47 euros in Lääne County, and 40 euros in East-Viru and West-Viru counties.

Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8832, sise@bns.ee

Baltic News Service