MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain leads as EU main attraction for foreign tourists

The number of nights spent in hotels by tourists in 2007 was highest in Spain followed by France, Germany and the United Kingdom according to the latest European statistics. The former Eastern Europe countries however registered the highest growth rate.

Spain recorded 272.8 million nights spent in hotels, up 2.3% from 2006 but countries such as Poland, Romania and Latonia advanced in the range of 10%. Overall the number of nights spent in hotels in the EU rose to 1.577 million, which is 3.1% over 2006. Germany recorded 214.8 million; France 203.8 million; UK 177.6 million, although Italy is missing from this year's statistics in 2006, registered 249.9 million. These five countries according to Eurostat concentrate 70% of all nights spent in EU hotels. As to the origin of these tourists, over half belong to the 27 country member EU (855 million, 54.2%). An interesting fact is that domestic tourism (3.6%) actually grew more than overseas tourism (2.4%). Nevertheless Spain remains the country of the five leading that receives more foreign than domestic tourists. In 2007 the number of nights spent in hotels of non residents was 155.4 million (up 2.4% from 2006) and 117.4 million of residents (up 2.2%). Regarding the number of resident EU citizens Germany, Italy and France lead with 170 million, 141 million and 131 million respectively in 2007. The countries with the fastest tourism growth rates were Poland (11.5%); Romania (9.1%); Latonia (9%); Malta (8.5%) and Holland (8.3%).-