A new analysis based on Eurostat data reveals stark disparities in the relationship between local populations and tourists across the European Union, particularly within the Southern Aegean region of Greece. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) released the findings, highlighting the intensity of tourism in different areas.
The Greek region, encompassing islands like Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes, experiences a notably unbalanced dynamic. In 2023, the area recorded an average of approximately 117 tourist overnight stays per resident – a key indicator of tourism intensity. This figure significantly outweighs other regions assessed in the EU-wide comparison of 237 areas.
The Ionian Islands, including Corfu, demonstrated a high level of tourism intensity with roughly 98 overnight stays per person. Italy’s province of Bolzano-South Tyrol registered 68, while the Croatian Adriatic coast and the Balearic Islands reported 67 and 57 respectively. For comparison, Germany’s Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with 18 overnight stays per resident, held the highest tourism intensity within Germany and ranked 17th in the EU.
While absolute visitor numbers place the Canary Islands as the most frequented destination in the EU, with approximately 95.6 million overnight stays in 2023 – averaging around 262,000 individuals per island daily – their relative tourism intensity, at 43 overnight stays per capita, placed them tenth. Following the Canaries were the Croatian Adriatic coast (87.3 million overnight stays), Catalonia (85.6 million), the Ile-de-France region surrounding Paris (85.2 million) and Andalusia in Southern Spain (73.9 million). Upper Bavaria, including Munich, ranked fourteenth within the EU with 41.6 million overnight stays.
Conversely, the lowest levels of tourism intensity in 2023 were observed in the Polish regions of Masovia (excluding Warsaw) and Opole and in South-Muntenia and Northeast Romania, both lacking their respective capital cities, with just under one overnight stay per resident recorded.
Tourism represents a crucial economic driver for many countries. In 2023, the hospitality sector contributed the largest share to gross value added in Greece (7.1%), followed by Spain (6.7%) and Croatia (6.4%). Germany’s hospitality sector’s contribution of 1.5% was the lowest within the EU.
