[size=75:3b73qpah]Sofia echo 22 February 2010

New figures confirm impact of financial crisis on tourism in EU

ulgaria was among 26 European Union states that saw declines in hotel guest numbers in 2009, according to figures released by the bloc’s statistics office, Eurostat.

In the 27 EU member states in 2009, the number of nights spent in hotels and similar establishments was just more than five per cent less than in 2008.

The number of hotel nights spent by residents in their own country in 2009 fell by 1.6 per cent and hotel nights spent by non-residents fell by 9.1 per cent compared to the previous year.

The decline in the number of hotel nights in the EU27, which began in the middle of 2008, slowed down during 2009, according to Eurostat.

The number of hotel nights fell at an annual rate of eight per cent in January-April 2009 (compared with the same period of the previous year), of 4.1 per cent in May-August and of 3.6 per cent in September-December.

These estimates cover both business and leisure visits, Eurostat said.

For Bulgaria, the figures were that there was an overall decrease of 16.5 per cent. Among residents – in effect, Bulgarians staying at hotels in Bulgaria – the decline was 8.7 per cent, while for non-residents the figure was 19.5 per cent.

In Bulgaria, January-April 2009 saw eight per cent fewer hotel nights than in the same months the previous year. On an annual basis, the May-August 2009 decrease was just less than 17 per cent and September-December figures were 23.4 per cent lower than the same months of 2008.

Eurostat said that across the EU, the change in number of hotel nights varied in 2009 from a 23.3 per cent decrease in Latvia to a 0.1 per cent increase in Sweden, which was the only country to record an increase.

Amongst the Member States, the highest numbers of nights spent in hotels in 2009 were recorded in Spain (251 million nights, 6.5 per cent less than in 2008), Italy (238 million, -4.3 per cent), Germany (216 million, -1.4 per cent), France (191 million, -5.6 per cent) and the United Kingdom (170 million, -1.7 per cent). These five countries accounted for more than 70 per cent of the total number of hotel nights in the EU27 .

The number of nights spent in hotels in 2009 fell in all member states, except Sweden (+0.1 per cent). The largest decreases were recorded in Latvia (-23.3 per cent), Lithuania (-20.4 per cent), Cyprus (-19.7 per cent) and Slovakia (-18.1 per cent), and the smallest in Germany (-1.4 per cent), the United Kingdom (-1.7 per cent), Slovenia (-2.1 per cent) and Austria (-2.9 per cent).

In 2009, non-residents accounted for 44 per cent of the total number of nights spent in hotels in the EU27 compared with 56 per cent for residents, according to Eurostat.

Apart from the two Mediterranean islands, Malta (96 per cent) and Cyprus (89 per cent), the highest proportions of non-residents were registered in Latvia (73 per cent), Greece and Austria (both 72 per cent).

The lowest proportions of non-residents were recorded in Romania (15 per cent), Germany (20 per cent), Sweden (24 per cent), Finland (27 per cent) and Poland (30 per cent).

The highest numbers of hotel nights spent by non-residents were registered in Spain (142 million, -8.9 per cent compared with 2008), Italy (102 million, -7.5 per cent), France (64 million, -11.1 per cent), the United Kingdom (59 million, -7.8 per cent) and Austria (58 million, -4.6 per cent).

As to residents, the highest levels were observed in Germany (173 million, -0.6 per cent), Italy (135 million, -1.9 per cent), France (127 million, -2.5 per cent), the United Kingdom (111 million, +2.2 per cent) and Spain (109 million, -3.1 per cent).