Online bookings for short-term accommodation in the EU increased by 18 percent

In short-term accommodation facilities in EU, nearly 246 million overnight stays were booked through online platforms in the second quarter of this year, which is 17.8 percent more than in the same period last year, Eurostat reported on Wednesday.

The increase in overnight stays in the EU booked through online platforms Airbnb, Booking, or Expedia in the second quarter continues the growth trend that began at the start of this year, which is once again proving to be a “promising year for tourism,” comments Eurostat.

Easter boosted the European season

In April of this year, the number of overnight stays in short-term accommodation was 34.3 percent higher than in April last year, mainly due to the Easter holidays.

In May, the growth was somewhat more modest, at 5.3 percent compared to the same month last year, while June again brought a larger increase in overnight stays in short-term accommodation, of 18.1 percent compared to last June.

Canaries most popular

In addition to the second quarter, Eurostat also published ‘brief’ data for the first quarter of this year at the regional level, according to which the Spanish Canaries topped the travel list.

This region had 8.8 million overnight stays in short-term accommodation booked through online platforms, making it the most popular in the EU in winter 2025, followed by the French region Rhône-Alpes with 8.1 million overnight stays, and the third, also Spanish region, Andalusia with 7.7 million overnight stays, with no comparative data available for these or other regions from the same period last year.

Overall, in the first quarter of this year, among the 20 most chosen regions for overnight stays in short-term accommodation through online systems, there were five regions each in Spain and France, three in Italy, two in Austria and Portugal, and one region each in Hungary, Poland, and Greece.

In Croatia, the Adriatic leads

Eurostat’s charts also show that in Croatia, specifically in its Adriatic region, there were the most overnight stays in short-term accommodation booked online in the first quarter of 2025, totaling 432 thousand, followed by the city of Zagreb with 242.2 thousand.

In the region of Pannonian Croatia, there were nearly 53 thousand such overnight stays, and in northern Croatia, 39.5 thousand.