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Two-thirds of Europeans travelled in 2024, but millions still could not afford a holiday

Posted by Timothy on

Almost two-thirds of European Union residents aged 15 and over took at least one tourism trip for personal purposes in 2024, according to Eurostat. But behind the recovery in European travel, a substantial divide remains: nearly three in ten Europeans could not afford to pay for a one-week annual holiday away from home.

Around 249 million Europeans made at least one personal tourism trip involving at least one overnight stay in 2024. That was 5.7 million more people than in 2023, an increase of 2.3%. The number was also 5.5 million higher than in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eurostat defines participation in tourism as the share of a population that makes at least one tourism trip during a given year. The figures cover trips for personal purposes and exclude business travel.

The Netherlands leads Europe

The Netherlands had the highest tourism participation rate in the EU in 2024. 84% of Dutch residents aged 15 and over made at least one personal tourism trip during the year.

Luxembourg, Finland, and Sweden followed at 83% each, while France reached 81%, and Germany 80%. Ireland recorded 79%, with Austria, and Czechia both at 76%.

At the other end of the scale, only 32% of residents of Bulgaria participated in tourism, while Romania recorded just 28%.

The gap between the most and least travel-oriented populations was therefore enormous: the participation rate in the Netherlands was three times that of Romania.

Belgium among Europe’s most international travellers

Belgium sits towards the more travel-active end of the European spectrum. The country was one of only two EU member states, together with Germany, where 61% of residents participated in foreign tourism in 2024. Luxembourg led the ranking at 83%, followed by Ireland at 68%, the Netherlands at 67%, and Austria at 62%.

Belgium’s position is particularly notable because foreign travel is only one part of the picture. Many Belgian residents also take holidays within Belgium, meaning the overall participation rate is higher than the foreign-tourism figure alone.

Across the EU, 65% of residents participated in tourism overall in 2024. Around 31% took at least one domestic trip but no foreign trip, while 10% travelled abroad but did not take a domestic tourism trip. Another quarter combined domestic and foreign travel.

Almost half of tourists stayed within their own country

International travel may dominate the image of European tourism, but domestic tourism remains extremely important.

In 2024, 47% of European tourists made only domestic trips. At the same time, 38% made both domestic and foreign trips.

Taking both groups together, 85% of EU tourists made at least one domestic tourism trip during the year.

Sweden had the highest participation rate in domestic tourism, at 77%, followed by France and Finland at 76%. Czechia recorded 69%, Germany 66%, and Spain 64%.

The figures also show that foreign travel is becoming more important again. The number of Europeans travelling abroad increased by 6.8% in 2024, compared with a 2.5% increase in the number engaging in domestic tourism.

Older Europeans are less likely to travel

Age remains another significant dividing line.

While participation in tourism was between 65% and 74% among most age groups, it fell to just 51% among people aged 65 and over.

People aged 65 and over represented around a quarter of the EU population aged 15 and over, but only 20% of the EU’s tourist population. Even so, almost 49 million people aged 65 and over did make at least one tourism trip in 2024.

There was nevertheless a notable recovery among older travellers. Tourism participation among people aged 65 and over increased by 6.0% between 2023 and 2024, the strongest increase of any age group. The only age group to record a fall was those aged 25 to 34, down 3.6%.

Longer holidays remain out of reach for many

Taking a short trip is considerably more common than taking a longer holiday.

When Eurostat excludes trips lasting three nights or fewer and looks only at tourism trips of at least four overnight stays, the EU participation rate falls from 65% to 52%.

In 2024, 47.6% of EU residents aged 15 and over did not make a single tourism trip lasting at least four nights. That was nevertheless the lowest proportion recorded in the past 15 years.

Financial constraints remain an important part of the explanation.

In 2024, 27.0% of Europeans could not afford to pay for a one-week annual holiday away from home. The figure has fallen considerably over the longer term – from 40.5% in 2012 – but remains substantial.

The differences between countries are particularly stark. Only 9% of people in Luxembourg could not afford such a holiday, compared with more than 40% in Romania, Greece and Bulgaria.

Tourism participation continues to recover

The figures confirm that European travel has continued its recovery from the pandemic years.

In 2020, the share of people taking longer tourism trips fell sharply as COVID-19 restrictions and uncertainty disrupted travel. Since then, participation has steadily recovered. By 2024, the share of people not taking any trip of at least four nights had fallen to its lowest level in 15 years.

The latest figures therefore present a mixed picture of European tourism. More people are travelling, foreign travel is growing faster than domestic tourism, and participation among older Europeans has recovered strongly. But almost half of Europeans still did not take a trip lasting at least four nights, while more than a quarter could not afford a week’s annual holiday.

The result is a Europe where tourism is increasingly widespread, but where the ability to take a proper holiday remains closely linked to income and country of residence.

Some tourism statistics

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