One year after the first post-Covid-19 pandemic travel surge, has the tourism industry recovered? Have travel preferences changed?
New data released by EUROSTAT shows the dynamics of tourism in the EU with recent bookings on four travel and hotel platforms: Airbnb, Booking, Tripadvisor, and Expedia Group. Platform tourism had already recovered in 2022, with the number of guest nights spent in 2023 reaching or exceeding pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels. In total, nearly 719 million guest nights were booked through these four platforms in 2023, an increase of 20.5% over the previous year, 2022.
Paris, for example, remains the most popular city destination. Booking private accommodation in capitals such as Berlin and Amsterdam is not as common as it once was. Amsterdam has seen a decline in platform bookings of over 50%, and Dublin has experienced a decline of 45%. Prague and Reykjavik have also not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
In terms of vacation regions, coastal Croatia recorded almost 22,000 overnight stays per 1,000 inhabitants during the summer months of June to September. Spain, Italy, and France, particularly their coastal regions and islands, followed in popularity.
While France, Italy, and Spain remain the leading European holiday destinations in terms of bookings, some trending countries, such as Poland and Romania, also reflect the movement of refugees, especially close to their eastern borders.