But what does the data actually say?
Before I get to it, I will just say I’m a huge fan of Maps.Interlude and this is in no way meant as a criticism of their map, I was just curious what the data actually says.
The boring reality is the following (according to Eurostat):
“In 2023, Europeans spent the majority of their tourism trips in the country where they live.”
And in fact:
“Europeans spend 73% of their trips inside their own country of residence”
So, that means data for Spain, Croatia, Turkey, France, Greece, Italy and Portugal are all correct, but the others aren’t really accurate.
Now the map may just be showing the most popular destination from among these 7 countries (which would explain why each of them has themselves as the top destination) and then from others showing the most popular from among the 7.
Here are the top foreign destinations from EU countries to other countries (EU and non-EU) based on total number of trips:
| Origin Country | Destination Country |
|---|---|
| Belgium | France |
| Bulgaria | Greece |
| Czechia | Slovakia |
| Denmark | Sweden |
| Germany | Austria |
| Estonia | Finland |
| Ireland | United Kingdom |
| Greece | Italy |
| Spain | Portugal |
| France | Spain |
| Croatia | Italy |
| Italy | Spain |
| Cyprus | Greece |
| Latvia | Estonia |
| Lithuania | Türkiye |
| Luxembourg | Germany |
| Hungary | Germany |
| Malta | Italy |
| Netherlands | Germany |
| Austria | Italy |
| Poland | Germany |
| Portugal | Spain |
| Romania | Greece |
| Slovenia | Croatia |
| Slovakia | Czechia |
| Finland | Sweden |
| Sweden | No data |
| Norway | Sweden |
In terms of number of nights here’s the share by country:
And in terms of non-EU destinations from EU countries:
And here’s another related map:
And here are the totals from that map:
| Rank | Country | Did not leave country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxembourg | 17% |
| 2 | Switzerland | 20% |
| 3 | Norway | 31% |
| 4 | Ireland | 32% |
| 5 | Netherlands | 33% |
| 6 | Austria | 38% |
| 7 | Belgium | 39% |
| 8 | Germany | 39% |
| 9 | Sweden | 45% |
| 10 | Slovenia | 47% |
| 11 | Malta | 51% |
| 12 | Czechia | 54% |
| 13 | Cyprus | 54% |
| 14 | Finland | 54% |
| 15 | Latvia | 57% |
| 16 | Estonia | 60% |
| 17 | Slovakia | 61% |
| 18 | Denmark | 64% |
| 19 | France | 70% |
| 20 | Spain | 73% |
| 21 | Lithuania | 73% |
| 22 | Croatia | 76% |
| 23 | Hungary | 76% |
| 24 | Poland | 78% |
| 25 | Portugal | 84% |
| 26 | Italy | 87% |
| 27 | Greece | 91% |
| 28 | Bulgaria | 92% |
| 29 | Romania | 97% |
What is your top European destination for a holiday?
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