Italy had the highest number of tourist beds available in the European Union in 2023, with some 5.2 million beds, or 17.8% of the EU total, new data from Eurostat has found.
France placed a close second, with 5.1 million beds available (17% of the total), while Spain (3.82 million) and Germany (3.66 million) followed, with 13% and 12.6% of the total respectively.
There is then quite a drop to the Netherlands in fifth, with 1.4 million bed places, or 4.8% of the total, while Greece (4.2%), Croatia (3.9%) and Austria (3.9%) follow.
At the other end of the scale, Malta had the fewest tourist bed places available last year, at 51,000, followed by Latvia (52,263) and Luxembourg (57,949).
The European Union had a total of 29.2 million bed places available in tourism accommodations last year, compared with 28.9 million in 2022.
Tourism numbers rise
In general terms, last year saw tourism numbers rise across the EU, with 2.9 billion total nights spent in accommodations, up from 2.8 billion in 2022. This growth was driven by both domestic and international tourists, with domestic guests accounting for almost 1.6 billion nights, while international guests added close to 1.4 billion nights.
A notable shift was seen in the share of nights spent by tourists from outside Europe, which rose from 12.6% in 2022 to 15.6% in 2023. This reflects an influx of about 60 million more nights, translating to an average of 164,000 additional non-European guests each night.
In terms of the regions from which tourists are travelling to the EU, North American visitors accounted for 7.1% of the international nights, followed by Asia (4.6%), Central and South America (2.2%), Oceania (1.0%), and Africa (0.7%).
The majority of international tourist nights, however, were by visitors from within Europe: 62.4% by other EU nationals and 21.4% by tourists from non-EU European countries, Eurostat‘s data showed. Read more here.
Number of tourist beds available by EU country, 2023
| Country | Tourist Beds |
|---|---|
| Italy | 5,207,116 |
| France | 5,094,909 |
| Spain | 3,821,391 |
| Germany | 3,665,302 |
| Netherlands | 1,400,003 |
| Greece | 1,237,782 |
| Croatia | 1,149,340 |
| Austria | 1,138,217 |
| Sweden | 840,127 |
| Poland | 793,056 |
| Czechia | 759,131 |
| Portugal | 709,602 |
| Belgium | 472,781 |
| Denmark | 451,600 |
| Romania | 419,921 |
| Hungary | 361,716 |
| Bulgaria | 359,853 |
| Finland | 256,028 |
| Ireland | 245,774 |
| Slovakia | 203,394 |
| Slovenia | 188,674 |
| Lithuania | 121,556 |
| Cyprus | 84,859 |
| Estonia | 61,904 |
| Luxembourg | 57,949 |
| Latvia | 52,263 |
| Malta | 51,041 |
