January 25 (SeeNews) - Slovenia and Croatia are two of three countries in which tourist overnights increased the most among all European Union (EU) member states last year, Eurostat said.
The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation facilities in 2017 grew in nearly all member states for which data are available, with the largest increases observed in Latvia (+12.0%), Slovenia (+11.3%) and Croatia (+10.6), Eurostat said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to Eurostat, Slovenia's overnight stays totalled 11.9 million in 2017, of which 67% were spent by non-residents. Tourist overnights spent at tourism accommodation establishments in Croatia reached 86.1 million last year, with 93% of the total spent by non-residents of the country.
Among the EU member states in Southeast Europe (SEE), Bulgaria saw a 3.1% increase in tourist overnights to 26 million in 2017, with the share of nights spent by non-residents at 66%. In Romania, the number of tourist overnights rose 6.1% to 26.8 million last year, with non-residents having a 20% share of the total.
Elsewhere in SEE, non-EU Serbia and Macedonia both saw a significant rise in overnight stays in 2017. Tourist overnights in Serbia increased by 11% to 8.3 million with 39% spent by non-residents, while in Macedonia they grew 9.1% to 1.8 million (66% spent by non-residents).
The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the entire EU is expected to have reached more than 3.2 billion in 2017, up by 5.1% compared with 2016, Eurostat noted.
Spain led the lot with 471 million nights, followed by France with 431 million, Italy with 425 million and Germany with 400 million.