Tourist numbers still struggling to reach pre-pandemic levels in 2023

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Joao / Unsplash

According to data released by Statistics Estonia, 1.25 million tourists stayed at accommodation establishments in the country during the three summer months (June, July, August) of 2023. Although this was up 1 per cent from the previous year, it was still 12 per cent less than in the summer of 2019. Compared with last summer, there were more foreign tourists, but fewer domestic tourists.

“609,000 foreign tourists were accommodated in Estonia in the three summer months of 2023. Foreign arrivals did not yet reach the pre-crisis level of June-August 2019, but compared with the summer of 2022, the number of foreign tourists increased by 7 per cent, said Helga Laurmaa, a leading analyst at Statistics Estonia.

The number of domestic tourists was down by 4 per cent compared with last year’s summer months. However, there were 16 per cent more domestic tourists than in June to August 2019.

During the summer tourism season, the highest number of tourists staying in Estonian accommodation establishments arrived from Finland (265,000), accounting for 43 per cent of foreign tourists. Compared with the year before the crisis, the share of Finnish tourists in the total number of foreign tourists has increased. The percentage of Latvian and Lithuanian tourists has also risen. The number of Russian tourists decreased by 92 per cent compared with 2019.

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Domestic Tourists Estonia Tourism Statistics 2023 Finland Foreign Tourists Latvia Statistics Estonia Tourism Estonia