In the summer of 2023, 1.25 million tourists stayed in Estonian accommodations, with a 1% increase compared to the previous summer. However, these numbers were still 12% lower than in 2019. Notably, there were more foreign tourists and fewer domestic tourists in Estonia during this summer season – suggesting tourism in Estonia is still below pre-COVID years.

According to Helga Laurmaa, the chief analyst at Statistics Estonia, Estonia hosted 609,000 foreign tourists during the summer months of 2023.

Laurmaa noted that foreign tourist arrivals in 2023 did not yet match the levels observed before the pre-crisis period in June to August 2019. Nevertheless, there was a 7% increase in the number of foreign tourists compared to the summer of 2022. In contrast, domestic tourist numbers saw a 4% decline compared to the previous year, but they still exceeded the figures from June to August 2019 by 16%.

During the peak tourism season, 265,000 Finnish tourists visited Estonian accommodations, making up 43% of all foreign tourists. The share of Finnish tourists has grown since the pre-crisis period, as has the percentage of Latvian and Lithuanian tourists. However, the number of Russian tourists has decreased by 92% compared to 2019. In August 2023, over 429,000 tourists stayed in Estonian accommodations, a 2% increase from August 2022 but an 11% drop compared to July 2023. Accommodations hosted more foreign tourists and fewer domestic tourists compared to last August, with 82% visiting for leisure and 14% for business.