Spain, Italy and France the top holiday destinations for the EU27 residents in 2011

15-4-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — In 2011, EU27 residents made 1.0 billion holiday trips1, of which around one quarter were trips outside the country of residence2 (outbound trips). Looking in more detail at these outbound holiday trips, Spain was the top foreign destination of EU27 residents in 2011 (13% of all outbound trips), followed by Italy and France (both 9%). It should be noted that these figures refer to trips made by EU residents. They do not include trips made by non EU residents to the EU3.

These figures4 are issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Highest share of outbound holiday trips in Luxembourg and Belgium

Among the Member States, the highest numbers of outbound holiday trips in 2011 were recorded by residents of Germany (73 million or 34% of holiday trips made by residents), the United Kingdom (44 mn or 38%), France (22 mn or 11%) and the Netherlands (16 mn or 52%). These four Member States accounted for almost two thirds of all outbound holiday trips made by EU27 residents. In a majority of Member States, most holiday trips were made within the country of residence, while half or more than half of all trips made by residents of Luxembourg (nearly 100% of all holiday trips), Belgium (74%), Slovenia (56%), the Netherlands (52%) and Austria (50%) were trips to a foreign country.

Top destinations for outbound trips are neighboring or nearby countries

In all EU27 Member States, the top destination of outbound holiday trips made by residents in 2011 was a neighboring or nearby country, except for residents of Romania (Italy was the top destination of outbound trips), Sweden (Greece) and the United Kingdom (Spain).

Among the top three destinations of outbound holiday trips, Spain was the preferred holiday destination for residents of Portugal (39% of outbound trips), the United Kingdom (21%) and France (18%), while France was the top destination for residents of Belgium (33%), Luxembourg(23%), Spain and Italy (both 16%), and Italy was the preferred destination for residents of Malta (32%), Austria (22%) and Romania (20%). In addition, Germany was the top destination for holiday trips abroad for residents of the Netherlands (18%), Poland (15%) and Denmark (14%).

###

Number of holiday trips: Trips made by tourists, i.e. overnight trips of 1+ nights.
In addition, outbound trips accounted for 40% of nights spent in tourism establishments and 54% of tourism expenditure in the EU27.
Tourists from outside the EU27 accounted for 11% of all nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the EU27.
For more information see the Statistics explained article on the Eurostat website:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Tourism_statistics_-_top_holiday_destinations

Published by: Eurostat Press Office Julia URHAUSEN Tel: +352-4301-33 444 eurostat-pressoffice@ec.europa.eu

For further information: Krista DIMITRAKOPOULOU Tel: +352-4301-33 298 chryssanthi.dimitrakopoulou@ec.europa.eu

Eurostat news releases on the internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Holiday trips made by residents, 2011