The data, released by Eurostat, indicates that, last year, there were 29.2 million beds in the 27 member countries of the European Union, with almost three billion overnight stays.
Ahead of Portugal, in this ranking, were countries such as Italy, which has 17.8% of the beds in the European Union, totalling 5.2 million; followed by France, with 17.4% of the total and corresponding to 5.1 million; Spain, with 13.1% and a total of 3.8 million beds, as well as Germany, with 13.1% and 3.8 million beds.
As for overnight stays, Eurostat data also shows that almost half of the more than three billion overnight stays recorded last year were carried out in coastal accommodation establishments, which accounted for 1.4 billion overnight stays (48% of the total).
The overnight stays, according to the figures released by the European Union’s statistics office, were mostly carried out by national tourists, who totalled 1.6 billion overnight, while the remaining 1.4 billion nights concerned international guests.
Between 2022 and 2023, the percentage of overnight stays by international guests from regions outside Europe increased from 12.6% to 15.6%, equivalent to a rise of 60 million in absolute numbers, with overnight stays by non-Europeans rising at an average of 164 thousand additional foreign guests every night of the year.
In 2023, 7.1% of international overnight stays in EU accommodation were by tourists from North America, while guests from Asia accounted for 4.6%, Central and South America 2.2%, Oceania 1.0% and Africa 0.7%, according to Eurostat.