Nordic countries vacation in July, Southern Europe in August

TALLINN - According to data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, European countries attract vacationers mainly during the two hottest summer months. In 2025, nearly a third of all overnight stays in accommodation establishments in the European Union (EU) occurred in July and August, while tourists visit Estonia and the Nordic countries most frequently in July.

Similar to other EU countries, the most popular months for visiting accommodation establishments in Estonia are July and August. "However, unlike the general EU trend, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, and Lithuania see the highest number of overnight stays in July," explained Piret Pukk, a leading analyst at Statistics Estonia. "Last year, 26.1 percent of overnight stays in Estonia were registered in July and August, with 13.9 percent in July and 12.2 percent in August. These figures are below the EU average," the leading analyst pointed out.

The third most popular tourist month in both the European Union and Estonia is June. "The numbers for Estonia and Europe in June are very similar - in Estonia, 10.5 percent of all overnight stays in accommodation establishments in 2025 took place in June," Pukk specified. The fewest overnight stays in most EU countries were in January and February, and in some countries also in November (Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Slovenia) or March (Romania, Slovakia). In Estonia, the fewest overnight stays last year were registered in January (5.5 percent), February (6.1 percent), and March (5.9 percent).

Could Estonia be a year-round tourist destination?

Although summer is also the most active tourist season in Estonia, visits are more evenly distributed throughout the year than in many Southern European countries. The tourism sector is most affected by seasonality in Croatia, Greece, and Bulgaria, while the least affected EU countries are Estonia, Slovakia, Malta, Finland, and Lithuania.

Eurostat data shows that Estonia is not among Europe's most seasonal tourist countries. "This indicates that Estonia is increasingly being visited at other times of the year as well," Pukk noted. In 2025, from September to November, Estonian accommodation establishments accounted for 22.7 percent of overnight stays (7.8 percent, 8 percent, and 6.9 percent, respectively), while December accounted for 8.1 percent. In April and May, overnight stays were 6.9 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively. For comparison, in Croatia, only 4.5 percent of overnight stays were registered during the five winter months (January to March and November to December), while in Greece, the total for the same months was 6.8 percent.

In neighboring countries, seasonality is even less pronounced. "For example, in Finland, July and August accounted for 24.1 percent, and in Lithuania, 24.5 percent of the year's overnight stays," Pukk explained, adding that in Finland and Lithuania, the third most popular month for overnight stays in accommodation establishments is also June (10 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively). In Latvia, July and August accounted for 29.1 percent of overnight stays, with July being the most popular month. In Finland, however, the Christmas month is a rather popular tourist month. "Last year, 8.4 percent of all annual overnight stays were registered in December," the leading analyst pointed out.

Summer tourism has a larger share in Southern Europe

Tourism is most seasonal in Mediterranean countries, where nearly half of the year's overnight stays are registered during the summer months. The seasonal pattern was most pronounced last year in Croatia, where 54.5 percent of overnight stays were registered in July and August. The annual tourism peak also fell in July and August in Bulgaria (43.4 percent of overnight stays) and Greece (41.6 percent of overnight stays). The share of the two hottest summer months in the annual total was lowest in Malta (21.9 percent), Germany (24.0 percent), and Finland (24.1 percent).

In August, the most popular month of 2025, there were 3.6 times more overnight stays in the EU than in January, the month with the lowest number of stays. "Some countries stood out for their strong seasonality: in Croatia, there were 41.1 times more overnight stays in August than in January, while in Greece this ratio was 20.5," Pukk pointed out.