The number of visits to Estonia by foreigners was 3% smaller in the second quarter compared to the same time last year. This decrease was the most impacted by the number of Russian tourists, which was by a quarter smaller than a year before. People from the EU countries travelled to Estonia as often as they did last year, but the number of trips made by Finns has fallen slightly year-on-year already for four quarters in a row. However, the number of tourists coming from the United States increased – they made twice as many single-day trips in annual comparison. Multi-day travellers coming to Estonia made up about half (57%) of all visitors. Multi-day travellers were on average 4.5 days in Estonia, 7% longer than in the second quarter of 2014.

Estonians visited foreign countries a million times in the second quarter of 2015, 2% less than a year before¹. Estonians made fewer visits to all the neighbouring countries, and trips to Poland and Hungary decreased as well. At the same time, Estonians travelled more frequently to Italy, Turkey and Belarus – the number of trips increased 29%, 18% and 47%, respectively, in annual comparison. There were 9% fewer single-day trips, but the number of multi-day trips grew slightly and they lasted longer.

¹ The number of visits abroad does not match the number of trips. As people may visit several counties during one trip, the number of trips abroad is smaller.

The movement of travellers has a noticeable effect on the export and import of travel services in the Estonian balance of payments. The balance of payments statistics for the second quarter of this year will be published on 8 September.

The foreign travel statistics

Additional information:
Tarass Snitsarenko
Eesti Pank Statistics Department
Telephone: +372 668 0906
Email: [email protected]