Estonian cbank: Number of foreign tourists growing less quickly

TALLINN - The number of foreign tourists in Estonia is growing less quickly and has still yet to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels, according to data by the Bank of Estonia.

Trips by foreigners to Estonia numbered 1,356,313 in the third quarter of 2023, 4 percent more than during the same quarter last year. Spending by foreign tourists in Estonia grew by 30 million euros on year to a total of 381 million euros, the central bank said.

85 percent of tourists came from countries in the European Union and the number of them was 8 percent higher in the third quarter than a year previously. The largest group of tourists were the 580,000 who came from Finland. The number of tourists from Finland was up by 5 percent over the year. The most tourists from outside the European Union were the 51,000 from the United States, which was 9 percent more than in the third quarter of 2022.

Around 825,000 overnight visits were made and their average duration fell a little to 3.5 nights. Same-day visits accounted for 39 percent of visits, and the number of such visits remained at the same level as last year.

Visits abroad by residents of Estonia totaled 969,874, growing 5 percent year over year. Estonian tourists' spending abroad grew by 15 million euros on year in the last quarter to 354 million euros.

Four visits out of five were made by Estonian residents to the European Union and the number of trips there was up 2 percent on a year earlier. The most visited country was Latvia with 168,000 visits. The number of visits to Latvia rose by 3 percent and was the highest ever recorded.

The countries outside the European Union that received the most visits were Russia with 57,000 visits and Turkey with 35,000. The number of visits to Russia was up 70 percent over the year and the number of visits to Turkey was down 13 percent. 5 percent more overnight visits were made and the duration of the average trip fell to 3.6 nights. The number of same-day visits abroad was up by 2 percent over the year, and they made up 16 percent of the total number of visits.