LUXEMBOURG / RankWire.AI / – Tourist accommodation across the European Union recorded 1.321 billion overnight stays in the first half of 2026. The total increased by 1.7% from 1.299 billion nights during the same period of 2025. Eurostat released these figures for stays from January to June within the 27-member bloc. The data encompass nights spent by both domestic and international guests staying at commercial tourist accommodation establishments.
Ireland experienced the most significant growth among EU nations, with overnight stays rising 14.6% compared to the previous year. Malta followed with a 9.9% increase, while Slovakia saw growth of 5.9%. Conversely, nine countries saw declines in overnight stays over the six-month period. Cyprus registered the steepest decrease at 7.7%, with Romania close behind at 6.7%. These country figures measure nights spent rather than visitor arrivals, tourism receipts, or travel expenditure.
International visitors accounted for 48.9% of all EU tourist accommodation nights during the first half of 2026. Malta recorded the highest proportion of foreign overnight stays at 95.2% of its total. Cyprus followed at 92.6%, with Luxembourg reporting an 87.7% share. These figures include non-resident guests from other EU countries as well as destinations outside the bloc. The remaining share of overnight stays across the EU was attributed to domestic visitors.
Stronger growth observed in international visitor nights
International visitor nights grew by 2.5% compared to the first half of 2025. Meanwhile, nights spent by domestic visitors increased by only 0.9% during the same timeframe. As a result, the growth rate of international overnight stays was nearly three times higher than that of domestic stays. Foreign guests accounted for nearly half of all tourism nights recorded throughout the bloc. The data demonstrate 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 fraction of total accommodation demand. Germany’s share of international visitors was 18.5% during the first six months of 2026. Poland’s figure stood at 19.8%, and Romania’s at 23.0%. Each of these countries thus received less than a quarter of its recorded tourism nights from non-resident guests. These statistics highlight notable differences in the composition of accommodation demand across individual EU member states.
Inclusion of hotels and short-stay lodgings in data
The tourism accommodation data encompass hotels and similar establishments, holiday rentals, and other short-term lodging options. They also account for camping sites, recreational vehicle parks, and trailer parks. According to Eurostat, an overnight stay refers to 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 for tourism accommodation throughout the EU.
Earlier data for the first quarter indicated 471.1 million tourism nights across the EU, representing a 3.4% increase from the same period in 2025. January alone accounted for 143.5 million nights, up 3.2%. February registered 154.4 million nights, an increase of 3.4%, and March reached 173.2 million nights, up by 3.7%. The latest first-half figures extend this reporting period through June, resulting in a total of 1.321 billion tourist accommodation nights for the first six months of 2026.