The number of tourists remained at the previous year’s level

Photo: Tairo Lutter / Postimees

According to Statistics Estonia, 194,000 tourists used the services of accommodation establishments in March 2014. The number of foreign tourists remained at the level of the previous year and there were 1% fewer domestic tourists.

In March, 116,000 foreign tourists stayed in accommodation establishments, i.e. the same number as in March 2013. Three-quarters of the foreign tourists come from neighboring countries, Latvia, Finland and Russia. More tourists from Latvia and Finland stayed in accommodation establishments than in March of the previous year, the number of tourists from Russia decreased by 5%. Also from several other European countries, fewer tourists arrived than in March of the previous year. The number of tourists arriving from Asian countries continues to increase; in March, there were 30% more tourists arriving from Asian countries than a year ago. 77% of the foreign tourists who used the services of accommodation establishments stayed in the accommodation establishments of Tallinn. The following most popular destinations were Pärnu, where 6% of the foreign tourists using the services of accommodation establishments stayed, and Tartu city and Ida-Viru county, which both accounted for 4% of the accommodated foreign tourists.

In March, 78,000 domestic tourists stayed in accommodation establishments, which was 1,000 domestic tourists less than in March of the previous year. 55% of the domestic tourists were on a holiday trip and 27% on a business trip. 30% of the domestic tourists using the services of accommodation establishments stayed in Harju county, 16% in Pärnu county, 11% in Tartu county and 9% in Ida-Viru county.

In March, 858 accommodation establishments offered services for tourists. 18,000 rooms and 39,000 beds were available for tourists. The room occupancy rate was 36% and the bed occupancy rate was 30%. The average cost of a guest night was 31 euros and was one euro more expensive than in March 2013. The average cost of a guest night was higher than the Estonian average only in Harju county. In Ida-Viru county, the average cost of a guest night was 29 euros, in Pärnu and Tartu counties – 24 and 26 euros, respectively.

Accommodation by region, March 2014

Accommodation	Total	Northern   Estonia	North-Eastern   Estonia	Central   Estonia	Western   Estonia	Southern   Estonia
Accommodation establishments	858	176	58	87	224	313
Rooms	17 934	7 918	1 108	1 164	3 784	3 960
Beds	39 460	16 636	2 317	2 756	8 362	9 389
Room occupancy rate, %	36	47	41	24	31	22
Bed occupancy rate, %	30	39	36	19	28	17
Tourists accommodated	194 162	114 725	12 087	9 325	31 357	26 668
Nights spent	362 169	199 382	25 615	16 455	72 399	48 318
residents of Estonia	132 369	37 588	13 014	10 923	37 091	33 753
foreign visitors	229 800	161 794	12 601	5 532	35 308	14 565
Average cost of a guest night, euros	31	35	29	30	24	26