The number of tourists staying in Estonian hotels increased by 11% in 1st quarter

According to Statistics Estonia, in the 1st quarter of 2012, 488,000 tourists stayed in the accommodation establishments of Estonia. The number of both domestic and foreign tourists increased compared to the same period of the previous year.

During the first three months of the year, 288,000 foreign tourists used the services of accommodation establishments, which was 11% more than in the same period last year.

Three quarters of foreign tourists arrived from the neighbouring countries Finland, Russia, Latvia and Sweden. 116,000 tourists from Finland or 40% of the total number of foreign tourists stayed in accommodation establishments.

In January and February compared to the same month of the previous year, the number of tourists from Finland decreased, but increased 7% in March.

71,000 tourists from Russia stayed in accommodation establishments. The number of tourists from Russia increased by 36% compared to the same period last year. More than half of tourists from Russia used the services of accommodation establishments in January, when New Year tours are popular among the tourists from Russia.

18,000 tourists from Latvia stayed in accommodation establishments, which was 29% more than in the first three months of the previous year.

4% of the total number of foreign tourists using the services of accommodation establishments arrived from Sweden, nearly 400 tourists more than in the 1st quarter of 2011.

In the first three months of the year, 200,000 domestic tourists used the services of accommodation establishments, which was 7% more than in the same period last year. More than a half of the domestic tourists were on holiday and 30% were on business trips.

In March, 108,000 foreign tourists and 74,000 domestic tourists stayed in the accommodation establishments. Compared to the same month of the previous year, the number of foreign and domestic tourists increased 16% as total. 766 accommodation establishments offered services for tourists and 16,700 rooms and 37,200 bed-places were available for tourists. The room occupancy rate was 39% and the bed occupancy rate 31%. Compared to March 2011, the bed occupancy rate increased 3 percentage points.

In March the average cost of a guest night in an accommodation establishment was 29 euros, which was 2 euros more expensive than in the same period of the previous year.