The Canary Islands was the second region of the European Union with the highest number of tourist overnight stays (4.2 million) in the first quarter of the year, according to the European statistical office Eurostat.
The only region of the European Union that surpassed the Canary archipelago was the French region of Rhone-Alpes, which tops the table with 4.88 million overnight stays in the first quarter of 2022.
The third place is occupied by Andalusia, which reached 3.49 million nights, while the fourth place is for the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur where there were 2.38 million overnight stays.
The also French Ile de France, which includes Paris, occupies the fifth position, with 2.3 million, while Catalonia is in sixth position, with 2 million overnight stays.
Overnight stays in the EU exceeded those of 2019
During the first half of this year, short-term rental accommodations in the EU registered 199 million overnight stays, according to booking data from Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group or Tripadvisor recorded by Eurostat.
They represent an increase of 138% compared to the same period of 2021 and exceed for the first time the levels of the first semester of 2019, when the platforms reported around 193 million overnight stays.
Eurostat highlights that, after a gradual recovery in the number of bookings during the second half of 2021, in the first half of 2022 bookings reached and exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
In the first quarter, 67.4 million nights were booked, compared to 27.1 million during the same period of 2021 (a period greatly affected by travel restrictions due to COVID-19) and 64.5 million nights in 2019.
The figures increased to 132 million nights in the second quarter, compared to 56.7 million in 2021 and 128.8 million in 2019.
In this dynamic Eurostat map you can consult the nights registered in all the regions of the EU between January and March of this year.
