In the summer of 2022, 251 million nights were spent in short-stay accommodation in the European Union booked via online platforms, which is an increase of 24% compared with the summer of 2021 and of 9% compared with with the summer of 2019, according to Eurostat, the EU's statistical office.

Eurostat’s report included data on total nights spent in short-stay accommodation booked via online platforms in the EU in the third quarter of 2022 and regional data for the second quarter. The report is based on a data sharing agreement between the European Commission and four global accommodation booking platforms —  Airbnb, Booking, TripAdvisor and Expedia Group, signed in March 2020.

Adriatic Croatia second

Coastal regions remained among the most popular travel destinations in the EU, and according to the data for the second quarter of 2022 (April-June), only five regions recorded over 4 million nights booked via the online platforms.

Among them is Adriatic Croatia, which ranked second with 5.5 million nights. Spain’s Andalucia was first, with 6.5 million nights in the second quarter of 2022. The French region of Provence-Alps-Côte d’Azur was third with 5.2 million nights booked online, the Spanish region of Catalonia placed fourth with slightly over 4 million nights and the French region of Île de France rounded off the top five with 4 million nights.

First half and third quarter of 2022 stronger than 2019

In the third quarter of 2022 (July-September), 251 million nights were spent in short-stay accommodation in the EU booked via the online platforms, which is an increase of 24% compared with the third quarter of 2021 and of 9% compared with the third quarter of the pre-pandemic 2019.

In the first half of 2022, 199.4 million nights were booked online, about 3% more than in the same period of 2019, while around 84 million were booked in the first half of 2021, when COVID-19-related travel restrictions were still in place.

All 31 EU and EFTA countries covered by Eurostat recorded a strong recovery of tourism nights in 2022 compared with 2021, but some countries still lagged behind figures from 2019. In the third quarter of 2022, tourist nights in Belgium, Sweden and France increased by around 30% compared with 2019, while 12 EU countries were still below figures from 2019, notably Portugal which was down 4%.