LUXEMBOURG / RankWire.AI / – In the first half of 2026, tourist accommodation across the European Union saw a total of 1.321 billion overnight stays, marking a 1.7% rise from 1.299 billion nights during the same period in 2025. Eurostat provided the data for stays from January to June within the 27-member bloc, including nights spent by both domestic and international visitors at commercial tourist accommodations.
Ireland experienced the highest growth among EU nations, with overnight stays increasing by 14.6% compared to the previous year. Malta followed with a 9.9% rise, while Slovakia saw a 5.9% increase. Conversely, nine countries reported a decline in overnight stays during this period, with Cyprus experiencing the steepest drop at 7.7%, and Romania falling by 6.7%. These figures reflect nights spent, not visitor arrivals, tourism revenues, or travel expenses.
International visitors accounted for 48.9% of all EU tourist accommodation nights in the first half of 2026. Malta had the highest proportion of foreign overnight stays at 95.2%, followed by Cyprus with 92.6%, and Luxembourg at 87.7%. These figures include non-resident guests from other EU nations and destinations outside the bloc, while domestic visitors made up the remaining share of overnight stays across the EU.
Stronger growth observed in international visitor nights
Compared to the first half of 2025, nights spent by international travelers increased by 2.5%, whereas domestic visitor nights grew by only 0.9%, making international overnight stays nearly three times as high in growth rate. Foreign guests accounted for almost half of the total tourism nights registered across the EU, illustrating 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 relatively small share of accommodation demand; Germany recorded an international visitor share of 18.5% during the first six months of 2026. Poland had 19.8%, and Romania stood at 23.0%, meaning less than one quarter of their tourism nights came from non-resident visitors. These figures underscore notable differences in accommodation demand composition across individual EU member states.
Statistics include hotels and short-term lodging
Tourism accommodation data encompass hotels, similar establishments, holiday rentals, and other short-stay lodging options, including camping sites, recreational vehicle parks, and trailer parks. Eurostat defines an overnight stay as each night a guest spends at a tourist accommodation. The data for the first half of the year exclude nights in non-rented accommodations, ensuring a consistent measurement framework that allows national figures to be summed into an overall EU tourism accommodation total.
Earlier first-quarter data indicated 471.1 million tourism nights across the EU, a 3.4% increase from the same period in 2025. January accounted for 143.5 million nights, up 3.2%; February recorded 154.4 million nights, increasing 3.4%; and March reached 173.2 million, up 3.7%. The current first-half figures extend the reporting period through June, bringing the total EU tourist accommodation nights to 1.321 billion for the initial six months of 2026.