The number of people who go on holiday and the average spending per person vary greatly across Europe, revealing significant inequalities. Euronews Business looks at the EU countries where people are most financially able to take a holiday.
Summer is vacation time for many in Europe. The countries with beautiful beaches They are usually the favorites of vacationers. Many people hit the road this season. However, not everyone can afford a trip.
According to Eurostat estimates, in 2023 29% of those over 16 years of age in the EU will not be able to afford a week-long holiday away from home.
Meanwhile, 62% of the EU population over 15 years old took a trip in 2022. This means that They went out at least once a year for vacation, leisure or to visit friends and family. On average, Europeans spent 441 euros per person on each tourist trip, or 87 euros per night, on these visits.
So where in Europe are people most financially able to go on holiday?
Which European country is in the lead?
In 2022, 62% of the EU population over 15 years of age did some type of tourism for personal reasons, according to Eurostat estimates. However, There are significant differences between EU countrieswith vacationer rates ranging between 28% of Bulgaria and 84% from the Netherlands.
People in the Nordic countries appear wealthier, with higher tourism participation rates in the region than in the rest of the world. Norway tops the list with 89%.
Among the main European economies, France stood out with 79% of the population on vacationwhich means that four out of five people had the opportunity to travel. This rate was 70% in Germany and 64% in the United Kingdom.
Unsurprisingly, participation in tourism is negatively correlated with the inability to afford a vacation. However, these are two different indicators, which measure different aspects of trips, so their totals do not add up to 100%.
Which countries spend the most on vacations?
According to Eurostat estimates, the average tourist expenditure per person varies considerably between European countries. Since the average vacation length differs in each country, we analyze spending both per trip and per night.
In 2022, Luxembourg recorded the highest tourist spending per night, with 175 eurosfollowed by Austria, with 154 euros, while the EU average was 87 euros. In eight EU countries, the average spend per night exceeded 100 euros, while was less than 50 euros in three countries: Poland, Greece and Czechia. These figures reflect the spending of tourists depending on their country of residence.
Among major economies, Germany recorded the highest spending, at €109 per night. France (84 euros), Spain and Italy (both 72 euros) were below average.
The disparity in holiday participation and average tourist spending per person in the EU reflects important income inequalities.
People spend more on trips abroad
The average tourist expenditure per night also varied depending on whether the trip was national or abroad. Typically, people tend to spend more per night when traveling internationally compared to domestic trips.
In 2022, EU residents spent an average of 68 euros per night for national tourism and 117 euros per night for trips abroad.
In some countries, the average spending on domestic tourism was less than 40 euros and even fell below 30 euros per night, such as in the Czech Republic and Latvia.
ADVERTISINGIn domestic tourism, Austria recorded the highest average expenditure, with 138 eurosfollowed by the 101 euros of the United Kingdom. However, UK data comes from the ONS and may not be directly comparable.
The average spend per night exceeded 150 euros in Luxembourg, Austria, Estonia and Sweden.
Residents of several countries spent at least twice as much per night on foreign trips compared to domestic trips. In 2022, this ratio was 3.7 in Latvia, followed by 2.8 in the Czech Republic. Residents of France, Greece and Spain also spent just over twice as much on trips abroad compared to domestic travel.
For example, a resident in France spent 71 euros per night on domestic trips, while they spent 147 euros per night on trips abroad.
ADVERTISINGRegarding the average tourist expenditure per trip, Luxembourg topped the list with 1,261 eurosfollowed by Austria with 720 euros and Germany with 650 euros. While the average expenditure per trip of EU residents was 441 eurosHungary and the Czech Republic recorded the lowest averages, both below 200 euros.
Balkan countries face major holiday affordability problem
The inhabitants of Balkan countries often have difficulty affording a vacationaccording to Eurostat. In 2023, more than half of the population of Montenegro (64%), Turkey (60%), Romania (60%), Albania (58%) and North Macedonia (55%) could not afford a week-long vacation away from home, due to their low salaries and, consequently, their relatively low purchasing poweraccording to Eurostat.
Other Balkan countries faced similar problems, although at slightly lower rates.
In contrast, this rate was much lower in the Nordic countries, where less than 15% of the population could not afford a week-long vacation.
ADVERTISINGThis rate was slightly higher than the EU average (29%) in Spain and Italywhile in France, the United Kingdom and Germany it was one in four people or less.
Spend at home or abroad?
It is estimated that in 2022, EU residents will spend €474 billion on tourist trips, the majority (53%) on trips abroad. In 17 of the 26 EU countries with available data, more than half of tourism spending was spent on trips abroad.
Residents in Luxembourg spent the most on trips abroad, with 98% of its tourist spending going abroadfollowed by residents of Belgium (90%), Malta (89%), Cyprus (84%) and the Netherlands (81%). In contrast, more than 70% of tourism spending by residents in Romania, Greece and France went to domestic trips.
By “national” we mean spending in the country itselfnot in other EU countries. For example, spending on domestic travel and to other EU countries accounted for 81% of total tourism spending. An additional 6% was spent on trips to the rest of Europe, bringing the total percentage spent within Europe to 87%.
ADVERTISINGEU residents spent 6% of their tourism spending on trips to the Americas, followed by Asia (4%) and Africa (3%).
