According to a 2025 study, the number of inbound tourist arrivals in Europe was expected to grow across all regions in that year. In 2025, Central and Eastern European countries were forecast to report the highest inbound tourism growth in Europe, with an estimated 20.7 percent year-over-year increase in inbound arrivals.

The number of international tourist arrivals in Europe increased significantly in 2024 over the previous year, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. In 2024, inbound arrivals in Europe totaled almost 759 million, making it the region with the highest number of international tourist arrivals worldwide. What are the leading travel markets in Europe? Both before and after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, France topped the ranking of the European countries with the highest number of inbound tourist arrivals, ahead of Spain, Turkey, and Italy. In 2024, international tourist arrivals in France reached 102 million. When looking at the European countries with the highest inbound tourism receipts, Spain recorded the highest figure that year, followed by the United Kingdom and France. The economic contribution of travel and tourism in Europe In 2023, the total contribution of travel and tourism to Europe’s gross domestic product amounted to over two trillion U.S. dollars. This figure includes the direct, indirect, and induced impacts of these industries. Meanwhile, travel and tourism's total contribution to employment in Europe reached nearly 37 million that year.

The total number of inbound tourist arrivals in Europe grew in 2024 over the previous year, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Overall, Southern/Mediterranean Europe reported the highest number of international tourist arrivals in the region, both before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 330.6 million arrivals in 2024. This figure made Southern/Mediterranean Europe the region with the highest number of international tourist arrivals worldwide that year.

A June 2025 survey focusing on the travel intentions of Europeans showed that 82 percent of respondents aged 55 years and older planned to likely or very likely take an overnight trip domestically or in Europe in the following six months. Meanwhile, 66 percent of travelers surveyed aged 18 to 24 reported the same.

In 2024, Germany was the European country with the highest outbound tourism expenditure. That year, Germany's outbound tourism spending amounted to over 120 billion U.S. dollars, the highest figure reported to date. In 2024, the United Kingdom and France followed in the ranking, with outbound tourism spending of around 119 billion and almost 60 billion U.S. dollars, respectively.

This dataset provides values for TOURIST ARRIVALS reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

In 2023, the expenditure of international tourists in Europe almost recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, being around 2.1 percent lower than in 2019. Overall, inbound tourism spending in the region amounted to roughly 645 billion euros in 2023. This figure was predicted to reach an estimated 702.6 billion euros in 2024.

The number of domestic arrivals at tourist accommodation establishments in the European Union (EU-27) increased in 2023 over the previous year, recovering from the impact of COVID-19. After declining to around 354 million with the onset of the pandemic, domestic tourist arrivals in the EU reached nearly 612 million in 2023, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

Key information about European Union Tourism Revenue Growth

• European Union Tourism Revenue grew 0.1 % YoY in Dec 2019, compared with an increase of 9.1 % YoY in the previous year
• European Union Tourism Revenue Growth rate data is updated yearly, available from Dec 2000 to Dec 2019
• The data reached an all-time high of 16.3 % in Dec 2003 and a record low of -13.5 % in Dec 2009

This collection covers internal tourism, in other words tourism flows within the country (domestic tourism) or from abroad to destinations in the country (inbound tourism). It only covers flows by tourist who stay at rented accommodation (with limitations of the scope, see further), and is therefore also known as "accommodation statistics".

Alternatively, this part of tourism statistics is sometimes referred to as "the supply side".

Accommodation statistics are a key part of the system of tourism statistics in the EU and have a long history of data collection. Annex I of Regulation (EU) 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council deals with accommodation statistics and includes 4 sections focusing on accommodation statistics, of which sections 1 and 2 include the requirements concerning rented accommodation (capacity and occupancy respectively).

Data are collected by the competent national authorities of the Member States (generally the national statistical institute) and are compiled according to harmonised concepts and definitions and recommended methodological guidelines, before transmission to Eurostat. Most countries collect the data via sample or census surveys, sometimes in an automated manner. However, in a few cases data are compiled from a demand-side perspective (i.e. via visitor surveys or border surveys). Surveys on the occupancy of accommodation establishments are generally conducted on a monthly basis.

The concepts and definitions used in the collection of data are backed by the specifications described in the Methodological manual for tourism statistics.

Accommodation statistics comprise the following information:

Monthly data on tourism industries (NACE 55.1, 55.2 and 55.3)

Monthly occupancy of tourist accommodation establishments: arrivals and nights spent by residents and non-residents. Since reference year 2020, monthly data on nights spent is also available at NUTS 2 regional level (this series is transmitted by the Member States once per year).

Net occupancy rate of bed-places and bedrooms in hotels and similar accommodation

Annual data on tourism industries (NACE 55.1, 55.2 and 55.3)

Occupancy of tourist accommodation establishments: arrivals and nights spent by residents and non-residents

Capacity of tourist accommodation establishments: number of establishments, bedrooms and bed places

Regional data

Annual occupancy (arrivals and nights spent by residents and non-residents) of tourist accommodation establishments at NUTS 2 level (broken down by month), at NUTS 3 level, by degree of urbanisation and by coastal/non-coastal area, and for selected cities. Some indicators are only available for nights spent, not for arrivals.

Annual data on number of establishments, bedrooms and bed places at NUTS 2 level, by degree of urbanisation and by coastal/non-coastal area

Data on number of establishments, bedrooms and bed places are available by activity at NUTS 3 level until 2011.

Please note that for paragraphs where no metadata for regional data has been specified, the regional metadata is identical to the metadata provided for the national data.

Culture and tourism - cities and greater cities

This dataset provides values for TOURISM REVENUES reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Key information about European Union Visitor Arrivals

• European Union Visitor Arrivals grew 5.2 % in Dec 2024, compared with an increase of 18.5 % in the previous year
• European Union Visitor Arrivals Growth rate data is updated yearly, available from Dec 2009 to Dec 2024
• The data reached an all-time high of 120.6 % in Dec 2022 and a record low of -72.3 % in Dec 2020

• In the latest reports, European Union Visitor Arrivals recorded 428,483,244.0 person in the year of Dec 2024
• Tourism Revenue of European Union reached 432.2 USD bn in Dec 2019, an increase of 9.0 % change from the previous year

Monthly number of nights spent by tourists in all types of tourist accommodation (hotels and similar accommodation; holiday and other short-stay accommodation; camping grounds, recreational vehicle/trailer parks), by country of residence (domestic or foreign).

The average for 2020 based on 38 countries was 10100 thousand tourists. The highest value was in France: 117109 thousand tourists and the lowest value was in Moldova: 29 thousand tourists. The indicator is available from 1995 to 2020. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

International tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) in European Union was reported at 340345899170 USD in 2019, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. European Union - International tourism, expenditures for travel items - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on October of 2025.

International tourism, number of arrivals in European Union was reported at 968873375 in 2019, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. European Union - International tourism, number of arrivals - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on October of 2025.

Thailand Number of Arrivals: Europe: Italy data was reported at 33,293.000 Person in Jun 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 73,524.000 Person for Mar 2017. Thailand Number of Arrivals: Europe: Italy data is updated quarterly, averaging 45,471.500 Person from Mar 2005 (Median) to Jun 2017, with 50 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 78,274.000 Person in Mar 2016 and a record low of 18,608.000 Person in Jun 2010. Thailand Number of Arrivals: Europe: Italy data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by TAT Inteligence Center. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Thailand – Table TH.Q014: Tourism Statistics: from International Tourist Arrivals.

Key information about European Union Visitor Arrivals

• European Union Visitor Arrivals recorded 428,483,244 person in Dec 2024, compared with 407,315,264 person in the previous year
• European Union Visitor Arrivals data is updated yearly, available from Dec 2008 to Dec 2024
• The data reached an all-time high of 428,483,244 person in Dec 2024 and a record low of 113,379,583 person in Dec 2020

Variation (in %) in the monthly number of nights spent by in all types of tourist accomodation (hotels and similar accommodation; holiday and other short-stay accommodation; camping grounds, recreational vehicle/trailer parks) compared to the same period of the previous year, by country of residence (domestic or foreign).