The Most Common Holiday Destination For Europeans?

Map created by Maps.InterludeThe map above supposedly shows the most popular holiday destinations for people from each European country.

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:

Map Created By Frontpages.eu

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%

And finally, the use of the term Riveria in Europe:

Map credit Sebastian Gräff at theeuropeancorrespondent

What is your top European destination for a holiday?