In December 2022, EU residents embarked on about 92 million tourism journeys, constituting 8.6 per cent of the total trips made at that time.
The EU Agency of Statistics, Eurostat, has revealed that within this figure, 73 million were domestic trips, accounting for nine per cent of the overall domestic trips in 2022. As a result, another 19 million journeys were made abroad, representing 7.1 per cent of the total foreign trips in 2023.
According to the same source, the long-standing tradition of domestic travel during the winter holidays and Christmas season manifests itself in a marked increase during the usually less active winter months.
In December of 2023, the number of domestic trips was almost four times the number of trips abroad, deviating significantly from the average ratio observed in other months, where domestic trips were typically three times more frequent than abroad.
The boost in domestic trips during the end-of-year period can be attributed to people visiting friends and relatives. This was the purpose reported for more than half of the domestic trips in December (whereas in the other months of the year, this purpose accounted for around one in three tourism trips).
Analysing national data, Eurostat also revealed that Romanian residents were particularly notable in 2022, with most of their travells concentrated in December at a significant 17.1 per cent. Following closely were residents of Bulgaria at 12.5 per cent and Malta at 11.8 per cent.
However, December accounted for a comparatively lower percentage of total trips made by residents as follows:
- Greece (5.2 per cent)
- Lithuania (six per cent)
- Sweden (6.4 per cent)
During the next decade, a decrease in domestic spending in the tourism sector in Europe is expected, Statista said earlier.
It also pointed out that the United States will continue to hold the highest percentage of domestic spending as a share of total tourism revenue. On the other hand, both the EU and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are expected to witness changes in this dynamic.
Specifically, MENA countries experienced domestic spending accounting for just over 20 per cent of total tourism receipts in 2020, a figure that escalated to 25 per cent in 2022. However, forecasts suggest a decline to 20 per cent by 2025 and a decline further to 18 per cent by 2032.
