LUXEMBOURG / RankWire.AI / – In the initial half of 2026, the European Union reported a total of 1.321 billion overnight stays in tourist accommodations. This figure indicates a 1.7% increase from the 1.299 billion nights recorded during the same period in 2025. Eurostat provided these statistics based on data collected between January and June across the 27 member states. The data encompass overnight stays by both residents and visitors at commercial tourist lodging facilities.
Ireland experienced the highest growth among EU nations, with overnight stays rising by 14.6% compared to the previous year. Malta followed with an increase of 9.9%, while Slovakia saw a growth of 5.9%. Conversely, nine countries experienced a decline in overnight stays during this six-month span. Cyprus recorded the most significant decrease at 7.7%, with Romania close behind at 6.7%. These figures reflect nights spent rather than visitor arrivals, tourism revenues, or travel expenditures.
International visitors accounted for 48.9% of all EU tourist accommodation nights during the first half of 2026. Malta led with the highest proportion of foreign overnight stays, constituting 95.2% of its total. Cyprus was next at 92.6%, followed by Luxembourg at 87.7%. The data include non-resident guests from other EU countries as well as destinations outside the bloc. Meanwhile, domestic visitors made up the remaining share of overnight stays across the European Union.
Growth in international overnight stays surpasses that of domestic
Overnight stays by international travelers increased by 2.5% compared to the first half of 2025. During the same period, nights spent by domestic visitors grew by 0.9%. Consequently, international overnight stays expanded at nearly three times the rate of domestic stays. Foreign guests accounted for almost half of all recorded tourism nights within the EU. These figures highlight the separate contributions of resident and non-resident travel to the overall 1.7% growth in accommodation nights.
In several major domestic tourism markets, foreign guests represented a smaller portion of demand. Germany’s international visitor share was 18.5% during the first six months of 2026. Poland reported 19.8%, while Romania’s figure stood at 23.0%. Each of these countries received less than one quarter of their total tourism nights from non-resident visitors. Such data emphasize notable variations in the makeup of accommodation demand among individual EU member states.
Accommodation types covered include hotels and short-term rentals
Statistics on tourism accommodations incorporate hotels and similar lodgings, holiday homes, and other short-stay options. They also include camping sites, recreational vehicle parks, and trailer parks. Eurostat defines an overnight stay as each night a guest spends at a tourist accommodation facility. The first-half data exclude nights spent in non-rented accommodations. This standardized measurement approach enables national figures to be aggregated into a comprehensive total covering tourism accommodations across the EU.
Earlier data for the first quarter revealed 471.1 million tourism nights across the EU, reflecting a 3.4% rise from the same quarter in 2025. January accounted for 143.5 million nights, showing a 3.2% increase. February recorded 154.4 million nights, up 3.4%, and March reached 173.2 million, up 3.7%. Extending these figures through June, the latest first-half data bring the total number of tourism nights in the EU to 1.321 billion for the first six months of 2026.
}}]}]}]}]}]}]}]}}}】