Which EU regions are receiving the most foreign tourists?

In 58 regions out of 231 for which data are available the number of nights spent by foreign tourists was higher than that recorded for domestic tourists. The relative importance of foreign tourists was particularly high in 7 popular holiday destinations that accounted for more than 9 out of every 10 nights spent in tourist accommodation: the Greek island regions of Kriti (94.6%), Ionia Nisia (93.6%) and Notio Aigaio (92.0%), Malta (93.1%), Jadranska Hrvatska (92.5%), Cyprus (90.8%) and Tirol (90.7%).

These regions more dependent on foreign tourism are visible on the map in the green shade bubbles.

The bubbles in yellow, gold and brown refer to regions more dependent on domestic tourism. 

In 2023, the 3 regions in the EU with the highest number of nights spent in tourist accommodation by domestic tourists were all in France: the capital region of Ile-de-France (39.7 million), Rhône-Alpes (38.7 million) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (37.8 million). There were 4 more French regions – Languedoc-Roussillon, Aquitaine, Pays de la Loire and Bretagne – present among the 16 EU regions that had more than 20.0 million nights spent by domestic tourists.