LUXEMBOURG / RankWire.AI / – Tourist accommodation in the European Union saw a total of 1.321 billion overnight stays during the first half of 2026. This represents a 1.7% increase from 1.299 billion nights in the same period of 2025. Eurostat provided the data for stays from January to June across the 27 member states. The statistics include nights spent at commercial tourist accommodations by both domestic and international visitors.
Ireland experienced the most significant growth among EU nations, with overnight stays up 14.6% from the previous year. Malta followed with a 9.9% rise, while Slovakia saw an increase of 5.9%. Conversely, nine countries faced declines in overnight stays over the six months. Cyprus faced the steepest decline at 7.7%, with Romania at 6.7%. These figures measure nights spent, not visitor arrivals, tourism revenue, or travel expenditure.
International visitors made up 48.9% of all EU tourist accommodation nights during the first half of 2026. Malta had the highest proportion of foreign overnight stays at 95.2% of its total. Cyprus followed with 92.6%, and Luxembourg recorded 87.7%. These figures include non-resident guests from other EU countries and destinations outside the bloc. The remaining share of overnight stays came from domestic visitors across the EU.
International overnight stays showed stronger growth
Nights spent by international visitors rose by 2.5% compared to the first half of 2025. Domestic visitor nights increased by 0.9% during the same period. The growth rate for international overnight stays was nearly three times that of domestic stays. Foreign visitors accounted for almost half of all recorded tourism nights in the EU. These figures highlight how both resident and non-resident travel contributed separately to the overall 1.7% rise in accommodation nights.
In several major domestic tourism markets, foreign visitors represented a smaller portion of accommodation demand. Germany recorded an international visitor share of 18.5% during the first six months of 2026. Poland reported 19.8%, while Romania stood at 23.0%. Each of these countries received less than a quarter of their tourism nights from non-resident visitors. The data reveal notable differences in how accommodation demand is composed across individual EU member states.
Hotels and short-term lodgings included
Tourism accommodation data covers hotels, similar establishments, holiday lodging, and other short-stay options. It also includes camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks, and trailer parks. Eurostat defines an overnight stay as each night a guest spends at a tourist accommodation. The first-half data does not account for nights in non-rented accommodations. This standardized measurement allows national data to combine into an overall EU total for tourism accommodations.
Earlier first-quarter data recorded 471.1 million tourism nights across the EU, a 3.4% increase from the same quarter in 2025. January accounted for 143.5 million nights, up 3.2%. February had 154.4 million nights, a 3.4% rise. March recorded 173.2 million nights, up 3.7%. The latest figures for the first half of 2026 extend through June, bringing the total EU tourist accommodation nights to 1.321 billion for the first six months of the year.
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