LUXEMBOURG / RankWire.AI / – Tourist overnight stays within the European Union reached a total of 1.321 billion during the first half of 2026. This marks a 1.7% increase from 1.299 billion nights in the same period of 2025. Eurostat provided these figures for the period from January to June across the 27-member bloc. The data encompass overnight stays by both domestic and international visitors at commercial tourist accommodation providers.
Ireland experienced the highest growth among EU nations, with overnight stays climbing 14.6% compared to the previous year. Malta’s increase was 9.9%, while Slovakia saw a rise of 5.9%. Conversely, nine nations reported declines in overnight stays during the six months. Cyprus faced the most significant decrease at 7.7%, followed by Romania at 6.7%. These statistics measure nights spent rather than visitor arrivals, tourism revenue, or travel expenditures.
International visitors made up 48.9% of all tourist accommodation nights in the EU during the first half of 2026. Malta had the highest proportion of foreign overnight stays, accounting for 95.2% of its total. Cyprus was next with 92.6%, and Luxembourg recorded an 87.7% share. The data include non-resident visitors from other EU countries as well as outside the bloc. Domestic visitors comprised the remaining portion of overnight stays across the EU.
International tourist nights grow more robustly
Overnight stays by international visitors increased by 2.5% compared with the first half of 2025. Meanwhile, nights spent by domestic visitors grew by 0.9% over the same timeframe. The growth rate of international overnight stays was nearly three times higher than that of domestic stays. Foreign travelers now account for almost half of all recorded tourism nights across the bloc. These figures illustrate how both resident and non-resident travel separately contributed to the overall 1.7% rise in accommodation nights.
In several large domestic tourism markets, foreign visitors represented a smaller share of accommodation demand. Germany’s international visitor share was 18.5% during the first six months of 2026. Poland reported 19.8%, and Romania’s figure stood at 23.0%. Consequently, each of these countries received fewer than one quarter of its total tourism nights from non-resident visitors. The data highlight notable differences in the composition of accommodation demand across individual EU member states.
Accommodation figures include hotels and short-term lodgings
The statistics on tourism accommodations cover hotels, similar establishments, holiday lodgings, and other short-stay options. They also incorporate camping sites, recreational vehicle parks, and trailer parks. Eurostat defines an overnight stay as each night a guest stays at a tourist accommodation. The release for the first half of the year does not include nights spent in non-rented housing. This standardized measurement approach allows national data to be aggregated, resulting in a comprehensive total for tourism accommodation across the EU.
Earlier data from the first quarter indicated 471.1 million nights across the EU, marking a 3.4% rise from the same quarter in 2025. January accounted for 143.5 million nights, a 3.2% increase. February recorded 154.4 million nights, up 3.4%, and March reached 173.2 million nights, up 3.7%. The most recent first-half figures extend this reporting period through June, bringing the total number of EU tourist accommodation nights to 1.321 billion for the first six months of 2026.
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