In the COVID-19 pandemic related travel restrictions stricken year 2021, residents of the European Union spent over four out of five of their trips inside their own country of residence. But when they left their motherland, where did they travel to? Eurostat figured it out.

In 2021, EU residents made 873 million trips, for personal or professional purpose, and spent 4,280 million nights during those trips. Tourist expenditure amounted to €288,371 million.

Over four out of five trips (84.6%) were domestic trips, trips in the tourist’s own country of residence, but in terms of nights spent and expenditure, domestic trips accounted for 72.8% and 62.4% of the total respectively. 

For most EU countries, the domestic market was dominant. Only for Belgium and Luxembourg this was not the case. Read here why Belgians and domestic tourism don’t gel well.

Tourists from Luxembourg made more outbound trips to one single foreign country – France – than those made inside their own country.

Unsurprisingly on top

Italy and Spain were the top foreign destination for EU residents in 2021. 

On average for the EU, 15.4% of all trips were made in a foreign country: 12.5% in another EU Member State and 2.9 % outside the EU. 

Italy was the number one foreign destination for EU residents, in terms of number of trips as well as expenditure; 11.8% of all foreign trips made by Europeans were spent in Italy, followed by Spain with 10.5%. 

In terms of nights spent, Spain came on top with 12.0%, followed by Italy with 11.6%. 

Italy was the main destination for more than 40% of all foreign trips by residents of Malta and for at least 15% of all foreign trips of residents of Germany and Austria, while French (22.6 %), Italian (12.6%) and tourists from Portugal spent more foreign trips to Spain (44.0%).

Friendly neighbours

A neighbouring or nearby country was the preferred foreign destination for trips of nearly all European tourists. In terms of duration and expenditure, the proximity of the destination became less dominant: further away destinations – also outside Europe – took a bigger share.

More than eight out of ten (81.4%) foreign trips of Europeans were spent inside the EU. In terms of nights spent, this represents more than seven out of ten foreign tourism nights (74.1%). The three top EU destinations – Spain, Italy and France – accounted for 43.8% of these nights. 

Outside, but nearby

Switzerland, Turkey or Türkiye and the United Kingdom were the top 3 destinations in terms of number of trips made by Europeans outside the EU in 2021. So, neighbours of the EU. 

Destinations outside the European continent made up only 6.4% of all foreign trips: 2.4% to Africa, 2.2% to America and 1.8% to Asia. Often, these intercontinental flows were dominated by a few generating countries. COVID-19 related travel restrictions surely are a factor here, but this is not mentioned by Eurostat.

The top 10 outside the EU consists of:

1. Switzerland, 
2. Turkey, 
3. United Kingdom, 
4. Norway, 
5. Egypt, 
6. United States, 
7. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
8. Serbia, 
9. Andorra, 
10. Morocco.

Detailed overview per country

In most cases, the choice of destination may be determined by proximity and/or relative attractiveness (e.g. in terms of climate). However, historical migrant flows, former colonial ties or language may also influence the choice of destination, for instance the United Kingdom for residents of Cyprus and Malta or Portugal for residents of Luxembourg.

Belgium

Residents of Belgium mostly travel to:

1. France.
2. Spain.
3. The Netherlands.
4. Italy.
5. Germany.

Looking at the inbound travels, Belgium is popular in:

• The Netherlands (3).
• France (3).
• Luxembourg (3).

Look up here the situation for your own country.

Collection of annual data on trips of EU residents

The collection consists of harmonised data collected by the Member States in the frame of the Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning European statistics on tourism. Eurostat translates this data into articles. 

The scope of observation for data on tourism trips are all tourism trips with at least one overnight stay, made by the resident population aged 15 and over. It includes trips made for private or professional purpose, outside the usual environment.

Context

The EU is a major tourist destination, with four Member States among the world’s top ten destinations for holidaymakers, according to United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) data. 

France is worldwide the number one destination, followed by Spain on 2. Italy is number 5 and Germany number 9. The others? The United States (3), the People’s Republic of China (4), Turkey or Türkiye (6), Mexico (7), Thailand (8) and the United Kingdom on 10.

Tourism is an important activity in the EU which has the potential to contribute towards employment and economic growth, as well as to development in rural, peripheral or less-developed areas. These characteristics drive the demand for reliable and harmonised statistics within this field, as well as within the wider context of regional policy and sustainable development policy areas.

Turkey or Türkiye?

I’ve included the spelling Türkiye for Turkey. In December 2021 Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the rebranding. In 2022 the United Nations received a formal request for the name change in communication. Other institutions followed. 

Officially, Türkiye is more Turkish and it is. The Turkish Government said it didn’t like the association with the edible bird and idioms in English such as “cold turkey”. Critics view the name change as a populist move to distract attention from economic and societal problems in the former Ottoman Empire. 

Turkey or Türkiye is not the first country to change its name or preferring its own-language name over a translated one. 

The Czech Republic actively promotes the usage of Czechia, the Ivory Coast want you to use Côte d’Ivoire and the Netherlands are avoiding Holland as a pars pro toto.