EU tourism slows down in early 2025

According to fresh data from Eurostat, 452.4 million overnight stays in tourist accommodation were recorded in the EU in the first quarter of 2025. This is 0.2% less than in the same period of 2024. January showed an increase (+3.5%), but February and March recorded declines of 0.8% and 2.7% respectively. The reasons are shifts in school holidays and festivals: Carnival shifted to February and Easter shifted from March to April.

The distribution by origin of tourists is particularly noteworthy. Foreign visitors accounted for 45.6% of the total number of overnight stays. But the differences between countries are striking: in Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg their share exceeded 80 per cent, while in Poland, Romania and Germany it was less than 21 per cent.

Latvia (+18.5%), Malta (+17.2%) and Finland (+10.6%) showed the greatest growth in the number of overnight stays of foreign tourists. In the opposite situation were Ireland (-23.1%), Croatia (-16.7%) and Sweden (-11.5%).

Interestingly, overnight stays by locals fell by 1.3 per cent, while overnight stays by foreigners increased by 1.1 per cent. This may indicate the continued recovery of international tourism after the pandemic downturn.

Of particular note is Luxembourg, where 80.4% of overnight stays were for foreign tourists - the third highest result in the EU. This once again confirms that the Grand Duchy remains an attractive spot on the European map, despite its modest size.

The data are based on the classification of accommodation facilities by category: hotels (I551), apartments and cottages (I552), campsites and trailer parks (I553). Overnight stays in the private sector are not included in the statistics.