The Covid-19 crisis in 2020 meant that foreign tourists spent significantly less in Estonia. In particular, during 2020 foreign tourists spent only 410 million euros in Estonia, which was one billion euros less than a year earlier.
According to the recent data of the Central Bank of Estonia (Eesti Pank), the number of trips by residents of the European Union in 2020 was only one third as many as in 2019. Half of tourists came from Finland, but the number of them was down 63% over the year.
The Covid-19 crisis had least effect on tourists from Latvia and Lithuania, but there were only half as many of them as in the previous year.
Visitors from countries outside the EU accounted only 19% of the total number of visits.
The number of same-day visits dropped by 2 million, and they made up 40% of the total number of visits.
There were 70% fewer overnight visits than a year earlier, though they increased to four nights in duration on average.
As for the visits abroad by Estonian residents, they made 60% fewer visits to countries in the European Union. One in four visits was to Finland, but the number of them fell by half.
The smallest impact was seen in Latvia, where visits were down by 37%.
Only 18% of visits were made to countries outside the EU.
There were 65% fewer same-day visits, and they made up 14% of the total number of visits. The number of overnight stays fell by 2 million, or 63% and the average length of each trip was four nights.
Residents of Estonia spent 405 million euros abroad, which was 800 million euros less than a year earlier.
