Analytics, Banks, Estonia, Tourism

Some 1.7 mln foreign tourists¹ came to Estonia in the second quarter of 2019, which was 2% fewer than in the second quarter of 2018. Tourists from Finland were one third of all visitors, but the number of them was down over the year by 9%. In contrast the number of visits by residents of other European Union countries was up 4%, while there were 15% more visitors from Lithuania and Denmark than a year earlier. There were 200,000 visits to Estonia by residents of Russia in the second quarter, which was 3% fewer than a year previously.

Foreign tourists visiting Estonia spent an estimated 420 mln euros in the second quarter. There were 3% more overnight visits than a year earlier, and they lasted for an average of three nights; 45% of all visits were same-day trips.

Estonian residents made some 950,000 trips to other countries at the same time, which was about the same as in the previous year. Trips to the European Union were down 3% with significant falls in the numbers of trips to Hungary and Poland, while there were more visits to the United Kingdom and Turkey than a year earlier. There was an increase of 9% in visits to the CIS, with the number of visits to Ukraine up by half on the previous year.

Estonian tourists spent an estimated 300 mln euros abroad in the second quarter. Overnight visits averaged four nights in length, while same-day trips accounted for 14% of the total, and they declined in number by 3%.

¹ Tourists here refers to leisure and business travellers, and also to people travelling for any other purpose.