The number of guests in hotels and guesthouses in August confirmed the best holiday season since the pandemic

The holidays brought the second best monthly visit rate to accommodation providers in Slovakia. Almost 744 000 guests were accommodated in hotels and guesthouses during August, the accommodation providers had more visitors only once in history, i.e. in August before Covid in 2019.

In August, 744 000 guests spent at least one night in hotels, guesthouses and other accommodation establishments in Slovakia, which was by 5.2% more than in the corresponding period last year. To reach the historically most successful August of 2019, accommodation providers lacked only 6% (49,000) visitors. During August, guests spent more than 2.1 million nights in tourism establishments with an average length of stay of 2.8 nights.

August has long been the most successful month of the year for tourism with the highest number of overnight stays in the year, the current number of guests in hotels and guesthouses reached the second highest value in history. For the last four years, even the number of those accommodated in the summer was affected by the pandemic, this year the holidays were successful. The number of people staying over two holiday months exceeded 1.4 million guests, and there were more of them only once in history in the summer of 2019.

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Almost two-thirds of those accommodated during August, i.e. 467 000 people, were domestic visitors. Their total number increased by almost 8% year-on-year and the values achieved were comparable to the touristically successful pre-Covid year 2019. Foreign visitors increased only minimally (1.2%) year-on-year and reached 277 000 guests. In August, the number of foreign guests continued to drop significantly behind the numbers from 2019, by up to 15%.

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Development of tourism in the SR regions

The end of the summer holidays brought accommodation providers a year-on-year increase in total visit rate in all 8 regions of Slovakia, it was the highest in Banskobystrický kraj (16%).  The most visited region of the Slovak Republic during August was Žilinský kraj, with 176 000 guests spending the night in the accommodation establishments of this region. With its combination of water parks, natural and thermal swimming pools with mountain hiking opportunities, it attracted a quarter of Slovakia's domestic and a fifth of its foreign guests. 

In the ranking of regions, it was followed by the following regions: Bratislavský (almost 146 000 visitors), Prešovský (more than 137 000 visitors) and Banskobystrický kraj (almost 82 000 guests).

Compared to the number of visitors in the touristically successful year 2019, only Košický kraj managed to attract a higher number of guests in August, and Žilinský kraj achieved comparable values. In other regions, to reach the numbers of the tourist successful year of 2019, accommodation providers still lacked 2 to 17% people.

Development for the first 8 months of 2024

In total, in the first eight months of 2024, 4.1 million visitors were accommodated in tourism establishments, which was by 2.9% more than in the corresponding period last year. The number of foreigners and domestic guests increased by 3% year-on-year. The total visit rate remained below the level of 2019 values, 7% of visitors were still missing for the period January-August.